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NAVAL HEROES 

OF 

TO-DAY 




(C) Brown and Dawson. 

A Broadside at Night Taken by Its Own Light 



NAVAL HEROES 

OF 

TODAY 



BY r I 



FRANCIS A" COLLINS 

Author of "The Fighting Engineers," 
"The Air Man," etc. 



ILLUSTRATED WITH 
PHOTOGRAPHS 



Vf**^ 




NEW YORK 

THE CENTURY CO. 

1918 



M 



i 



Copyright, 1918, by 
The Cewtuby Co. 



Published, September, 1918 



OCT -I 1918 



::> 



For much of the material 
here presented the author is in- 
debted to Lieutenant Wells 
Hawks, Passed Asst. Paymaster, 
U. S. N. R. R 



CONTENTS 



PART I 
GUARDING THE SEA LANES 

OHAPTEE 

I The American Spirit . 

II WiTPi THE Destroyers . 

III Returning Good for Evil . 

IV The Inspiration of Names . 
V Through Smoke and Flames 

VI ''Abandon Ship" . 

VII A Close Call . 

VIII Wireless Dangers 

IX His Last Words . 

X Fire at Sea . 

XI His Graduate Course 



PAGE 

3 

8 

15 
22 
27 
32 
38 

43 

48 

52 
60 



PART II 
WITH THE MERCHANT FLEET 

XII Routine Work . 

XIII The First Blow . 

XIV Without Warning . 
XV The "Silver Shell" . 

XVI A Record Performance 
XVII One of the First Tests 
XVIII Before and After the Wreck 



67 

73 

83 

92 

100 

104 

108 



CHAPTER 

XIX 

XX 

XXI 

XXII 

XXIII 

XXIV 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Aboard the Largest Transport 115 

Via Wireless 120 

A Success and a Failure . .125 

Standing by the Ship. . . . 133 
When the S.S. "Lincoln" 

Sank 137 

Guarding the Transports . . 147 



PART III 



ON AIR-SCOUT DUTY 



XXV First to Fly . . 

XXVI Early Exploits 

XXVII An Air Battle . 

XXVIII A Seaplane Wreck 

XXIX A Balloon Wreck 

XXX Air Coast Patrol . 

XXXI Spotting the Fall of 

XXXII Air Scouting . 

XXXIII Aero Photography 

XXXIV A Seven-Hour Air Battle 



Shots 



153 
158 
162 
168 

175 
180 
187 
192 
198 
205 



PART IV 

IN HOME WATERS 

XXXV In Peace Times 213 

XXXVI On the Spur of the Moment . 219 

XXXVII The Fire-Fighters .... 223 

XXXVIII Those in Peril 227 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XXXIX The Wreck of the "San Diego" 237 

XL The Wireless Guard .... 244 

XLI Modern Weapons 256 

XLII Manning the Fleets . . . 265 



XLIII 
XLIV 



PART V 

WITH THE MARINES 

With the Marines . . 
"First to Fight" . 



275 
280 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 



A broadside at night taken by its own 

light Frontispiece 

Capture of the first German submarine by 

Americans 17 

A camouflaged destroyer 18 

Launching a torpedo 35 

Signal drill 36 

On shore leave in the tropics 53 

A gala occasion 54 

A 400 lb. charge of powder for a 14-inch gun 71 

A floating target 72 

Some ship's mascots yy 

The gun crew ready for action 78 

Sunset at sea 87 

Riding out a storm 88 

German submarine destroyed by an American 

depth bomb 109 

The first American fighting men to reach 

France no 

On the high seas . . . 127 

With all flags set ... 128 

In home waters 145 > 



ILLqSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Awaiting the admiral 146 

Practising on a submarine target . . . .163 

With the air patrol fleet 164 

Seaplane practice .- . . . 181 

Drill at the Newport Navy Yard .... 182 
An American fleet in Chinese waters . . . 199 

The deck from aloft 200 

The range finder 241 

Training a gun crew 242 

A landing party of American sailors . . . 251 

Rolling scuppers under 252 

U. S. Marines and Bluejackets enjoying a day's 

outing at Culebra ....... 269 

U. S. Marines in action 270 



PART I 
GUARDING THE SEA LANES 



NAVAL HEROES OF 
TO-DAY 



THE AMERICAN SPIRIT 

IT is difficult to define the American spirit. 
We know it to be fearless, unselfish, and 
dependable in emergency. The best defini- 
tion is an example. There is a wealth of 
material to choose from in every service of 
the American Navy. 

The peril of the submarine has brought 
a new situation. Its missiles strike unex- 
pectedly and with deadly effect, and often 
the blow falls far from assistance. 

The exploit of Osmond K. Ingram, chosen 
almost at random from the submarine re- 
ports, will serve the purpose. Ingram was 
a gunner's mate of the first class aboard the 
Cassin on submarine patrol duty. A U-boat 
was sighted, one day, running on the surface 

3 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

at a distance of five miles. The alarm 
brought the men quickly to their battle sta- 
tions, and the Cassin was headed for the 
enemy full speed. The submarine had time 
to submerge before the Cassin came up. 
She cruised about for some time without 
picking the submarine up, steaming in a 
series of violent zigzags to confuse the en- 
emy. 

At the end of half an hour Commander 
W. N. Vernon of the Cassin suddenly sighted 
a torpedo only four hundred yards off. It 
was aimed to strike the Cassin amidships. 
The Captain rang for the emergency speed 
for both engines. Men who have watched 
the approach of a modern torpedo describe 
the experience as one of the most terrifying 
in a sailor's experience. Even those who 
have been repeatedly under fire find the mo- 
ment very trying. One does not see a shell 
that strikes. The torpedo, on the other 
hand, moves slowly in comparison. Many 
seconds must elapse after it is sighted be- 
fore the blow falls ; and the victim must face 
them as calmly as he may. 

The crew of the Cassin saw the wake of 
4 



THE AMERICAN SPIRIT 

the torpedo whiten and run out, drawing a 
Hne on the water directly toward them. In- 
gram, forgetting his own safety, rose to one 
of those acts of supreme sacrifice that render 
the American spirit traditional. As it be- 
came clear that the torpedo would miss the 
middle part of the ship and strike somewhere 
astern, Ingram realized that the ship was en- 
dangered by some boxes of explosives on the 
after-deck. If the torpedo struck near them 
they would destroy the ship. 

It would have been a simple matter to run 
forward with the rest of the crew and save 
himself; but Ingram deliberately turned and 
ran aft. He was racing with the torpedo. 
It was a question of seconds. The torpedo 
was only a few feet away when Ingram suc- 
ceeded in picking up and throwing over the 
last of the boxes of explosives. His pres- 
ence of mind had saved the ship. When the 
torpedo struck, Ingram was the only member 
of the crew in the vicinity. He was thrown 
into the water and drowned before assistance 
could reach him, being the only man on board 
to lose his life. 

The torpedo struck a glancing blow which 
5 



- NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

disabled one engine but struck no vital part. 
As her crew hurried to repair the damage 
the Cassin pluckily turned about, and, de- 
spite her handicap, gave battle to the sub- 
marine. She remained for hours on the 
scene, and when the U-boat finally lifted, the 
Cassin greeted her with four well placed 
shots which forced her to disappear with 
what damages it could only be guessed. 

Acting with instant decision, Ingram gave 
his life to save others and safeguard his 
ship. In the ready intelligence of his ac- 
tion, and in his unselfish devotion, Ingram 
has set a very high standard for the achieve- 
ment of the American spirit. As a special 
mark of respect, one of the new destroyers 
has been named for him. So great an au- 
thority as Admiral Sims, in commenting on 
the affair, said: 

"The behavior was admirable. There 
was no excitement, and afterwards the men 
remained quietly at their battle stations 
throughout the night." 

The following letter, written by Secretary 
Daniels, was read aloud to the crew of the 
U. S. S. Cassin: 

6 



THE AMERICAN SPIRIT 

"The Department has received the report 
of the action between the U. S. S. Cassin and 
a German submarine on October 15, 191 7> 
and notes with gratification the highly com- 
mendable conduct of yourself, the other offi- 
cers, and the crew of the Cassin. The man- 
ner in which the Cassin kept under way with 
her steering-gear disabled and practically at 
the mercy of the submarine, and opened fire 
on her when she appeared, is well worthy of 
the best traditions of the Navy." 

In another letter to Lieutenant McClaran 
and Saunders, Secretary Daniels especially 
praised them for their "highly commendable 
conduct in going down into the smoking hold 
adjacent to the magazines to ascertain the 
extent of the damage done to the Cassin 
after that vessel had been struck by the tor- 
pedo." 



II 

WITH THE DESTROYERS 

EVERY man of the crews of our destroy- 
ers on submarine duty is something of a 
hero. Many of them will probably be dis- 
tinguished by official recognition, but the list 
of fearless men who have faced death at 
this post of duty may be counted by thou- 
sands. 

Every one knows the speedy-looking craft 
that are driving the submarines from the sea. 
With their rows of funnels, they might be 
mistaken at a distance for fast Atlantic 
liners. They are the greyhounds of the 
Navy. The beam of a destroyer is about 
one twelfth her length. There is a great 
gain for speed in this proportion, and it is 
upon their speed that we depend to-day for 
the safety of the seas. But for their crews 
this narrow hull means indescribable dis- 
comfort. 

8 



WITH THE DESTROYERS 

No ship afloat, probably, is less stable in 
rough weather. A destroyer rolls through 
an arc of sixty degrees in six seconds. Only 
a sailor knows what this means. Such a 
motion will often roll an old sailor overboard 
before he can grasp a support. One of these 
boats has been known to roll through an arc 
of seventy-three degrees. As their speed 
increases up to thirty knots an hour or bet- 
ter, such craft roll and pitch, and combine 
the two motions in a very terrifying man- 
ner. 

The men below decks must be strapped 
into their berths in rough weather. Many 
suffer from broken arms and legs. And a 
storm may continue for days without relief. 
The wireless man of a destroyer was once 
held a voluntary prisoner in his cabin for 
more than forty hours without food, rather 
than face the sea that constantly swept the 
decks. There may be hours at a time when 
it is impossible to walk the length of the 
boat. A steel rope is often rigged up sev- 
eral feet above the deck to serve as a trolley. 
A sailor passes a rope over this, and, fasten- 
ing it about his shoulders, waits until the 

9 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

boat has pitched steeply enough, when he 
slides down in comparative safety. 

Aboard this frail craft must be carried 
considerable supplies of explosives, which a 
chance blow may set off. The boat's wea- 
pons include a number of depth bombs, for 
instance, each of which contains about three 
hundred pounds of T N T. The explosion 
of one of these bombs deep in the water 
wrecks everything in the vicinity. It is not 
necessary that they strike the U-boat or ex- 
plode very near them. Some idea of their 
power and the danger of handling them may 
be gained from the fact that a destroyer 
must be going twenty-five knots an hour 
when they are dropped astern. If the speed 
be slower than this, the boats are likely to be 
injured. There have been cases of destroy- 
ers dropping depth bombs while traveling 
at half this speed, when the explosion has all 
but wrecked them. To save weight and 
gain speed, which is so essential, parts of 
the hulls of the destroyers are made only 
three sixteenths of an inch thick — little 
enough protection, it would seem, against 
the storms of the Atlantic. 

lO 



WITH THE DESTROYERS 

No other service is so trying to men's 
nerves as that aboard the destroyers in ac- 
tive service. It has been found necessary to 
give the crews a rest after each cruise equal 
to about two thirds the time spent at sea. 
The watchers on board are Hmited to eight 
hours in every twenty-four. Day after 
day the crew are unable to take off their 
clothes, and must grab their food while 
holding for their lives to a convenient 
stanchion. 

The officers are worked to the limit of 
their endurance. For instance, in convoy- 
ing a ship, a destroyer must zigzag about the 
ship at top speed to keep every part of the 
sea under observation. It frequently hap- 
pens that the officer of the deck must change 
the ship's course two hundred times in an 
hour. On every destroyer one of the watch 
officers does the additional work of acting 
as chief engineer. The officers may also be 
called upon to serve in the crow's-nest as 
lookout, or to go aboard a torpedoed ship, 
all in addition to his regular eight-hour 
watch. The executive officer also acts at 
times as navigator — and the work of naviga- 

II 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

tion on these little crafts is very arduous. 
The commanding officer frequently averages 
nearly twenty hours of duty a day through- 
out a cruise. 

The destroyers start out to cover a regular 
course, but they are at the beck and call of 
everything that floats. A wireless SOS 
may draw them hundreds of miles off their 
course. The life of a destroyer's crew is 
just one submarine chase after another. 

Another perilous service that has come to 
be looked upon as commonplace routine work 
is that of the mine-sweeper. To free the 
ocean lanes of dangerous mines, great nets 
are drawn through the water and the "catch" 
carefully removed. The operation is much 
like that of fishing, but with the danger that 
the mines encountered may be set off with 
disastrous results. When such a mine is 
caught in the net, it must be drawn up, 
passed over the ship's side, and placed on 
deck with the most anxious precaution. 
The slightest jar may set off its delicate 
mechanism, and such mines are loaded with 
the design of destroying great ships at a 
single blow. In rough weather, with the 

12 



WITH THE DESTROYERS 

boat rolling and pitching, the work is exceed- 
ingly precarious. But familiarity breeds 
contempt even for these floating mines, and 
the sailors go about their perilous work with 
light hearts. 

One of the surprises of the present war 
is the youthfulness of many of the men 
who have gained high honors. Although 
twenty-one years has been fixed for the selec- 
tive draft, and eighteen for enlistment, the 
age limit is often dodged, so anxious and so 
fit are American boys to enter the service. 
It has frequently been remarked abroad that 
the American troops are surprisingly youth- 
ful. One of the first boys to be invalided 
home was a San Francisco school lad who 
had enlisted, undergone the necessary period 
of training, journeyed to France, fought 
and been wounded before his eighteenth 
year. 

In this connection it is interesting to 
quote briefly from a letter written to the 
Captain of the U. S. S. Georgia by the 
mother of a second-class seaman serving 
aboard his ship. It reads in part as fol- 
lows: 

13 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

I am writing to thank you for the good care you 
gave my boy. 

He was a boy just eighteen and deHcate, but he 
came back to me a strong, healthy, robust, a fine 
looking lad of nineteen, a boy any mother may feel 
proud of ; and my prayer is that he will come back 
again, and that we may be prouder than before. 
May the Lord watch between him and me and all on 
the U. S. S. Georgia until we meet again. 



14 



Ill 

RETURNING GOOD FOR EVIL 

OUR pride in the capture of the first 
German submarine crew is far greater 
than any satisfaction over its mere military 
advantage. The American crew showed 
themselves fearless and gallant fighters. 
There are many kinds of courage. In the 
encounter between the American destroyer 
and the U-boat .no one held back in the ac- 
tual physical encounter. It remained for 
Americans, however, to face death willingly 
a second time in a very terrifying form, to 
save the men who had just sought their lives. 
Many painful records of the inhuman treat- 
ment of prisoners by the Germans might be 
cited in contrast. 

The engagement was one of the shortest 
and most decisive in the history of the war. 
While escorting a large convoy, the U. S. 
destroyer Fanning sighted a submarine that 
had crept close in unobserved. Her peri- 
ls 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

scope appeared above the water for but a 
few seconds— long enough, however, for 
Coxswain Loomis of the Fanning to give the 
alarm. Only the most alert lookout could 
have observed the little tube with its wake 
of bubbles. The alarm found every one at 
his post. In such an encounter a few sec- 
onds' advantage spells victory or disaster. 
Without a moment's hesitation. Lieutenant 
S. C. Carpenter, the commander of the Fan- 
ning, headed for the U-boat's position. As 
she swept over the spot, first one and then 
another depth charge was dropped. 

Every eye was strained upon the sur- 
rounding waters for some sign of the enemy. 
The next shot, delivered at such short range, 
might decide the battle. Several anxious 
moments followed. It began to be feared 
that the submarine had moved nearer the 
convoy and might deliver a fatal blow. 

The strain was beginning to tell on all 
hands, when the water broke at a point be- 
tween the Fanning and her convoy, and the 
periscope bobbed above the surface. A 
third depth charge was loosened. The sub- 
marine continued to rise rapidly until her 

i6 



RETURNING GOOD FOR EVIL 

conning-tower appeared above the surface. 
She was greeted by three shots from the 
Nicholson, another American ship close by. 

The Fanning then opened with her bow 
gun, served by picked gunners. Each shot 
told, and on the third discharge the hatches 
of the submarine flew open and the crew 
rushed upon deck. They crowded along the 
narrow ledge facing the Fanning and held 
up their hands in token of surrender. The 
battle had been fought and won in less than 
eighteen minutes from the time the U-boat's 
periscope was first sighted. 

Keeping her batteries trained on the sub- 
marine, the Fanning cautiously approached. 
The prize was a rich one, and the suddenness 
of the surrender appeared suspicious. It 
was not until the Fanning was alongside that 
the nature of the trick was discovered. Be- 
fore coming on deck, the crew of the U-boat 
had scuttled their ship, thus literally burning 
their bridges with a vengeance. The sub- 
marine, as the men of the Fanning were to 
learn, had been struck in a vital part and 
could make no further defense: if she were 
captured, however, the secrets of her con- 

19 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

struction would fall into the hands of the 
enemy. 

The submarine was already well down 
when the Fanning came alongside. A line 
was thrown to the men; but, before they 
could escape, the boat made her last plunge, 
and the crew were forced to leap into the 
sea. The stories of the treatment of the 
vanquished by the crew of U-boats must 
have been in the minds of these American 
sailors. It was one of these submarines, it 
will be remembered, that enticed the crew of 
a torpedoed ship to come aboard, and, after 
taking their life-preservers from them, sub- 
merged, leaving them to face certain death. 

A high sea was running about the Ameri- 
can destroyer, and the water — for it was 
midwinter — was cruelly cold. Without 
awaiting orders, two of the crew of the Fan- 
ning jumped overboard. The men who 
showed this fine sense of the ethics of the 
sea were Chief Pharmacist A. E. Harwell 
and Coxswain F. G. Connor. The first 
German brought aboard died from exposure, 
which shows how severe a test of courage 
was called for. One by one, the rest of the 

20 



RETURNING GOOD FOR EVIU 

crew, ten in all, were brought aboard. They 
were found to be so weak that lines were 
fastened about them to pull them aboard. 

Nor did the gallantry of the American 
sailors end here. The German who had 
died was buried with full military honors by 
the men whom they had sought to destroy. 
The crew were served hot coffee, and our 
sailors shared their food and clothing with 
the prisoners. Several of the men took off 
their overcoats in the biting wind, handing 
them to the Germans. The Germans re- 
ceived these attentions with amazement, and 
the captain, lining up his men on the Fan- 
ning's deck, called for three cheers for the 
American sailors. 

The men who jumped into the winter sea 
have been commended and promoted for 
their services. It is significant that the first 
man on the list is an old honor boy in the 
New York City schools, who enlisted at the 
outbreak of the war, giving up a position of 
salesman in a department store. 



21 



IV 

THE INSPIRATION OF NAMES 

IT has been a very happy idea on the part 
of the United States Government to give 
to ships of the Navy the names of heroic of- 
ficers lost in the service. From the present 
war, even in its early stages, a wealth of 
material is supplied. Should America build 
the greatest navy in the world, ships could 
not be found to bear the names of all these 
heroes. 

In christening one of the latest destroyers, 
the Kalk, the Government preserved the 
memory of one of the most heroic actions in 
the history of the Navy. Lieutenant Stan- 
ton Frederick Kalk was the officer of the 
deck of the U. S. destroyer Jacob Jones, lost 
in action December 6, 191 7. The destroyer, 
when attacked, was proceeding to port after 
target practice. The blow came without 
warning, and but for the vigilance of her 
officers, all would have been lost. Lieuten- 

22 



THE INSPIRATION OF NAMES 

ant Kalk was the first to observe the ap- 
proach of the German torpedo while it was 
still about half a mile distant from his ship. 

Under the most favorable conditions the 
torpedo is an exceedingly elusive missile. 
Its rapid progress through the water is 
marked, even in calm weather, only by a 
wake of tiny waves and bubbles, indiscerni- 
ble even at a short distance. On this par- 
ticular December afternoon the sea was cov- 
ered with floating ice and the weather rather 
thick, which of course acted in favor of the 
enemy. These torpedo attacks force our 
men to face a situation new in warfare. The 
training and discipline of years and the high- 
est skill in gunnery count for little. There 
is no opportunity to match skill and fearless- 
ness against the enemy, as in an ordinary en- 
gagement. The safety of the ship and the 
lives of all on board may depend upon a 
single command, and the skill with which it 
is carried out. 

In the few terrifying seconds of life left 
to the destroyer as the torpedo approached, 
there was little time for preparation. The 
manoeuver ordered by Lieutenant Kalk could 

23 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

not be carried out before the torpedo struck 
fairly amidships. The wireless apparatus 
and mainmast were carried away by the im- 
pact, and the ship rapidly foundered. The 
shock of the explosion killed many of the 
crew, and threw others into the icy water. 
There was little time to lower the boats. 
Most of the men who were not killed by the 
first blow succeeded in getting clear of the 
ship, and reached the boats, rafts, or pieces 
of wreckage. Of the crew of seven officers 
and 103 men, two officers and 6y men were 
lost. 

The men who reached land brought stories 
of bravery and self-sacrifice scarcely equaled 
in the history of the seas. Scores of men 
struggled for hours in the icy water. All 
were under the shadow of death, and many 
died in the water from shock and exposure. 
At such a time the self-sacrifice of the officers 
and their men was above all praise. 

The heroism of Lieutenant Kalk has been 
described by many witnesses. Although 
weakened by the shock of the explosion, Kalk 
continued to swim from one raft to another 
to encourage his men and lend them all the 
24 



THE INSPIRATION OF NAMES 

assistance in his power. His cheering 
words reached most of his men, whom he 
urged to hold on until help should arrive. 

His supreme self-sacrifice, however, was 
in voluntarily relinquishing his place on the 
life-rafts when it was found that his weight 
endangered them. He swam from one raft 
to another, searching for a place, until his 
strength failed him and he disappeared. 
One of the sailors who saw him disappear 
said of him that "he was game to the last." 

In singling out men for conspicuous brav- 
ery in this wreck. Secretary Daniels has also 
mentioned the work of Lieutenant Norman 
Scott, one of the executive officers. In the 
few seconds that intervened between the first 
observation of the torpedo and the explo- 
sion, Scott found time to have the steam 
turned off, thus guarding against scalding 
the men if the pipes were broken. At his 
orders, guns were fired up to the moment the 
ship was struck. One of the officers, Lieu- 
tenant David W. Bagley, was picked up by a 
motor-boat, and succeeded in steering a 
course by the stars and the direction of the 
wind until he came into the shipping lanes 

25 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

and was rescued by a small patrol boat. The 
raft was commanded by Lieutenant J. K. 
Richards, whose coolness and cheerfulness 
in the face of almost certain death revived 
the spirit of his men and brought them to 
safety. Praise was also bestowed on Charles 
Worth, a boatswain's mate, who removed 
most of his clothes in the bitter cold to warm 
a seaman more thinly clad than himself. 
One of the seamen stuck to the ship after he 
had been thrown overboard, in a desperate 
eifort to clear a boat. He was finally drawn 
under, but was rescued on coming to the sur- 
face. When next the U. S. destroyer Kalk 
is heard of, it will be well to recall the story 
of the men whose death she commemorates. 



26 



V 
THROUGH SMOKE AND FLAMES 

WERE the exploits of J. R. Ridgely to 
be reenacted for a moving picture 
thriller, it would be considered impossible 
melodrama. Even a hardened "movie" 
audience would smile incredulously. 

The crew had been called to quarters by 
an alarm of fire. A hasty investigation 
showed that the trouble lay deep down in the 
engine-room, in a particularly inaccessible 
part of the ship. With the celerity de- 
manded at such times, the entire crew rushed 
to their stations, the pumps were manned, 
and the hose run out. Even on deck it was 
soon clear that the fire was serious. Clouds 
of black smoke began to pour from the ven- 
tilators, indicating that the fire was being fed 
by oil and was rapidly gaining headway. 

When a ship's ventilators begin to smoke 
the situation is serious. The fire may have 

27 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

spread to the vital parts of the ship. An 
oil fire is especially difficult to handle. Its 
heat is intense, often driving back the most 
daring crew ; and water may cause the burn- 
ing oil to spread. 

It had been the work of only a few min- 
utes for the crew to scale the perpendicular 
iron ladder leading to the engine-room, drag- 
ging the heavy hose with them; but they 
arrived too late. Working blindly in the 
intense heat, tons of water were quickly 
thrown into the dark hold, but the thick 
smoke continued to pour up. At these lower 
levels the air soon became suffocating. 
There was no thought of retreat. The 
pumps were run at top pressure. The crew 
still clung to the steep ladders, directing the 
hose into the darkness. 

The black smoke still continued to pour 
from the ventilators. Desperate attempts 
were made to reach the seat of the fire from 
other quarters. Men descended to the holds 
and tried to work their way by other en- 
trances, only to be driven back by the suf- 
focating heat and smoke. It was soon 
found that enough water had been poured 
28 



THROUGH SMOKE AND FLAMES 

into the ship to drown the fire, had it reached 
the right place. 

One passage leading to the heart of the 
fire still remained open, but the road was an 
exceedingly perilous one. Since the black 
smoke, despite the water poured into the 
ship, still rose from the funnel, it was ob- 
vious that the fire was at its base, or very 
near it. A hose had been carried to the top 
of the ventilator and a continuous stream of 
water poured down, but without apparent ef- 
fect. There remained only the extremely 
hazardous passage down the ventilator 
through the smoke and flame. If a man 
could survive such a trip, he would doubtless 
find himself face to face with the fire. 

The seaman Ridgely volunteered to make 
the trip. A rope was fastened beneath 
his arms, leaving his arms free, and his 
clothes were thoroughly saturated with 
water, as was the rope. Then the sailor 
climbed into the funnel, feet first. In one 
hand he carried a hose, in the other a fire 
grenade. Several of the crew grasped the 
rope and at a signal began slowly to lower 
him. His body slipped downward; for a 

29 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

moment his face remained above the opening 
of the funnel, and then disappeared. 

If the rope were not burnt through or cut 
by some sharp edge or projection in the next 
few seconds, it would be possible to raise 
the sailor once more to the level of the 
deck ; but no one dared picture to himself the 
condition of the man after such a trip. 
There was the double danger of suffocating 
from the smoke and of being burnt by con- 
tact with the heated metal of the lower parts 
of the ship. No one could tell into what an 
inferno he might be descending. 

A ship's ventilator, no matter what its 
length, acts as a speaking-tube, carrying any 
sound from its base to the deck with re- 
markable clearness. At a signal, a shout of 
warning, or a knock on the metal sides of the 
funnel, the crew would instantly begin to 
haul up. 

The rope was steadily paid out, foot after 
foot, indicating that the man was still de- 
scending; but no sound reached the deck. 
Every eye watched the taut rope. Should it 
slacken suddenly before he reached the floor 
of the engine-room far below, there would 

30 



THROUGH SMOKE AND FLAMES 

be little hope of again seeing him alive. 
The descent lasted but a few minutes — 
long as it seemed to the watchers on deck — 
when a reassuring shout from below told the 
watchers that he had made the journey 
through the smoke and lire in safety. Once 
on his feet, he directed the hose so success- 
fully that in a few minutes the fire was 
flooded out and he could make his way to the 
deck. In commending this hero for his act 
Secretary Daniels praised him for "conspic- 
uous bravery"; but even these glowing ad- 
jectives scarcely suffice. 



31 



VI 

"ABANDON SHIP" 

WITH the order, "Abandon ship," 
comes a supreme test of discipHne. 
As long as a ship floats, no matter what her 
injuries, there is always hope of victory. 
She may be outclassed and outfought, but 
the tide of battle may always change. A 
lucky shot or a well executed manoeuver may 
turn the tables against the enemy. To de- 
sert the ship ends every hope of success. 
The crew throw away their weapons. 

A war-ship is at once a fort and a fighting 
machine. No matter how severe the attack, 
the crew fight behind protection, the most 
formidable of its kind science has been able 
to devise. The moment they step from be- 
hind these steel walls they are completely at 
the mercy of the smallest gun the enemy may 
bring to bear on them. In clearing the 
decks of a battle-ship for action, the life- 
boats are removed, and if the ship goes down 

32 



"ABANDON SHIP" 

suddenly there is little or no time for bring- 
ing out and launching the small boats. 

The safety of the steel walls and the com- 
fort of the cabins are exchanged for the ex- 
posure of an open boat or raft ; perhaps even 
this chance of escape is gone. If the battle 
occurs far from land and assistance, the or- 
der to abandon ship is a death threat. Many 
great ships flying the Stars and Stripes have 
gone dov^n in storm or battle, and the famous 
order has been heard repeatedly; but the dis- 
cipline of the Navy has always stood the test. 
In the present war the new methods of the 
submarines has made the sinking of ships a 
commonplace, but the records contain no 
story of panic in such a crisis. 

Early in the war a converted yacht acting 
as a despatch boat was sunk by a submarine 
under peculiar conditions. The craft had 
been built for grace and comfort, and its hull 
offered little protection from attack. From 
the first moment she was hopelessly out- 
classed by the U-boat. When the torpedo 
designed to sink great battle-ships struck the 
frail craft, her hull was literally torn to 
pieces and she sank almost immediately. 

33 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

So sudden was the blow that many of the 
crew, who were asleep at the time, scarcely 
had time to tumble on deck before the water 
swept over her. A chief yeoman, who was 
sleeping below deck at the moment the tor- 
pedo struck, was one of those awakened by 
the impact. To be roused from a deep sleep 
in the middle of the night and find the water 
rushing into the cabin is certainly a terrify- 
ing experience. Without the iron discipline 
of the Navy, such a crew would doubtless be 
thrown into hopeless panic. 

The first impulse in such an accident is, of 
course, to make a rush for the decks, since 
that way lies the only hope of escape. While 
the rest of the crew, catching up their 
clothes, ran to the companionways, the chief 
yeoman deliberately remained below-decks. 
The lights had gone out, leaving the cabins 
in darkness. He must therefore feel his 
way through the cabins, not knowing which, 
plunge of the boat might be its last. 

Arriving finally at the Captain's room, he 
found it empty. The Captain had been on 
deck at the moment of the explosion, and had 
thought it foolhardy to try to reach his cabin. 

34 



«-. -1- 



5.1' 

0^ '^ 



' i 




"ABANDON SHIP" 

The chief yeoman wasted several priceless 
minutes in searching about the dark room, 
but finally secured the ship's papers and the 
captain's war diary. There was barely time 
for him to reach the deck before the boat 
made her last plunge. No life-boats were in 
sight. Wrapping the papers in his hand- 
kerchief and thrusting them into his shirt, 
the chief yeoman jumped overboard, clearing 
the ship as she sank. 

No boat or raft of wreckage of any kind 
was in sight. He swam about the spot 
where his boat had gone down for some 
time, and finally chanced upon a piece of the 
ship's air-tank, to which a sailor was cling- 
ing. His strength was almost gone from 
the long swim and the exposure, but his mate 
succeeded in holding him on the tank. The 
two floated about in this precarious support 
for hours before they were both rescued and 
the ship's papers preserved. 



Z7 



VII 
A CLOSE CALL 

WITHOUT the aid of wireless electric- 
ity, the tables probably could not 
have been turned on the submarine. The 
great fleets of scouting craft of every type 
that are constantly sweeping above the sub- 
marine-infested waters are linked together 
by these invisible waves. Without the wire- 
less they would work separately, each keep- 
ing guard only over its own prescribed area. 
At a touch of the key the widely scattered 
fleets become parts of an organized machine. 
Let the famous SOS flash over the seas, 
and instantly many prows are speeding to- 
ward the ship in distress. 

In October, 191 7, a Luckenbach craft fly- 
ing the American flag, bound for a French 
port, was attacked by a German submarine. 
An alert lookout on the steamer sighted the 
enemy craft close in on the port bow. Be- 
fore he could report the danger the U-boat 

38 



A CLOSE CALU 

opened fire. The first shot barely missed the 
bow. Although she carried an armed 
guard, the plight of the steamer was desper- 
ate. The submarine's guns were the larger 
and put the American at a disadvantage. 

The shot was the first announcement to the 
gun crew of the presence of the enemy. It 
found them at their stations, and the rever- 
berations had scarcely died away before a 
reply rang out. The gunners on both the 
submarine and the steamship maintained a 
rapid fire. The U-boat, being the faster and 
more mobile craft, so manoeuvered that she 
presented a very elusive target. 

The American Captain had lost no time 
in directing the wireless operator to send out 
the SOS with the full force of his ap- 
paratus. The call for help was thrown out 
for hundreds of miles in all directions. 
Again and again the wireless man pressed 
the key, but he listened in vain for any re- 
ply. 

The steamship was well within the war 
zone, where a number of scouting craft of 
various types were known to be on duty. 
Such a call for assistance is usually answered 

39 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

within a few seconds. Even if the craft that 
responds be too far away to be of assistance, 
the steamer in distress usually has the en- 
couragement of receiving some reply. The 
Captain visited the wireless room, and with 
the operator waited anxiously for a reply; 
but minute after minute passed and the air 
remained silent. 

The steamship was struck repeatedly. 
Any shot now might finish her. The con- 
flict could be drawn out for some anxious 
minutes, but, unless speedy assistance came 
to the steamer, the submarine's victory was 
certain. 

Preparations were made to abandon ship. 
The boats were swung overboard, and the 
crew and passengers took their boat stations, 
prepared to face the inevitable. As a final 
manceuver, the steamship's course was sud- 
denly altered, and she was sent full speed 
ahead in a direction that carried her away 
from her destination. The submarine con- 
tinued to keep within range, sending shot 
after shot. 

Meanwhile, the SOS had been picked 
up by an American destroyer only a few 

40 



A CLOSE CALL 

miles away, and the speedy craft was run- 
ning at forced draught to her reUef. The 
destroyer had answered the call for help, but 
the receiving apparatus aboard the steam- 
ship had been deranged by the firing, and 
her wireless man had no word of her. At 
frequent intervals the destroyer sent out en- 
couraging messages, such as "Hold on" and 
"Stick — we are coming"; but the steamship 
knew nothing about it. 

At such a time the moral support of a 
wireless message may be more useful than a 
battery. The American not only faced ship- 
wreck but the danger of the open boats as 
well. She was far from land, and once the 
men abandoned ship there was no opportun- 
ity of signaling. 

The submarine had meanwhile read the 
wireless messages from the destroyer and 
redoubled her efforts to finish the steamship 
before help arrived. It was a question of 
minutes. All hope seemed at an end, when a 
lookout on the steamship sighted a faint line 
of black smoke on the horizon. It grew 
rapidly until the lookout could distinguish 
the American destroyer rushing forward at 

41 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

her utmost speed. It was not toward the 
steamer she was pointed, however, but the 
submarine. The German fire suddenly 
ceased; the U-boat quickly submerged and 
was not seen again. 



42 



VIII 
WIRELESS DANGERS 

A GRACEFUL monument has been 
raised in New York to wireless tele- 
graph operators who have died at the post 
of duty. In time of danger no other mem- 
ber of the crew is perhaps so important to 
the ship's safety. His skill and courage has 
greatly reduced the toll of life in marine 
disasters. So vital is his work that, by an 
unwritten law, the wireless man is usually 
the last to abandon ship before the Captain 
himself. 

The list of wireless men who have died in 
service is already long. To choose almost 
at random, the record of Robert Ausburne 
of the U. S. transport Antilles is perhaps 
typical. When the Antilles was struck, 
Ausburne and a fellow electrician named 
MacMahon were asleep in the radio-room. 

43 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

Wakened suddenly from his sleep, Ausburne, 
without waiting to dress, rushed to his sta- 
tion. His companion ran on deck, to find 
the ship sinking rapidly and the men run- 
ning to their boat stations. 

Ausburne deliberately turned his back on 
his chance of escape and devoted his entire 
attention to his apparatus. It is presumed 
that he received some response to his calls 
for help, and remained in the hope that he 
could direct some vessel to their position. 
In the few minutes of life left to the trans- 
port, he did not leave his key. MacMahon, 
finding that all hope was past, made his way 
through the confusion of the deck to the 
wireless-room. He found Ausburne busily 
engaged with his apparatus, his back turned 
to the deck and safety. Even then he re- 
fused to leave his key, and, with a cheery 
"Good-by, Mac," continued to send out the 
SOS. He was not seen again, and doubt- 
less remained valiantly at his post until the 
ship sank. 

This war has made many demands upon 
the wireless man. He must not only be a 
skilful operator in sending and receiving, but 

44 



WIRELESS DANGERS 

he must elude the pitfalls that wireless men 
of the enemy forces are constantl}^ laying for 
him: for the German operators show an 
amazing and quite shameless ingenuity in 
sending decoy messages. Under the guise 
of a call for help or a word of encourage- 
ment, every effort is made to trap the opera- 
tor into betraying his position or the name of 
his ship. 

So common have these wireless tricks be- 
come that no wireless message is now sent 
without the authority of the Captain. The 
wireless man "listens in" day and night, and 
picks up much valuable information; but he 
is not allowed to transmit. One of the com- 
monest tricks is for the enemy, a submarine 
or perhaps a land station, to ask if the ship 
will kindly transmit a message for them to 
the shore. Under ordinary conditions, any 
wireless man would willingly agree to do 
this. Should he reply, the enemy would 
know at once that there was a vessel within 
reach and would start for it without delay. 

Another plan is for an enemy operator to 
send out an identification code that is not to 
be found in the code books. If there is a 

45 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

reply it will be known, of course, that a ship 
is within receiving distance. It is the cus- 
tom for a merchant-ship, on approaching the 
shores of France or England, to send a mes- 
sage to her owners in her private code. If 
this ship had been so foolish as to reply to 
any of the decoy questions, the enemy could 
identify her on hearing her a second time, 
and would know her relative position. It 
is also possible to calculate from the strength 
of the wireless waves the relative position of 
a ship, and even the direction from which 
these waves come. 

The wireless man must be suspicious of 
every call, no matter how friendly it may ap- 
pear to be. A message may even be received 
apparently warning of the presence of sub- 
marines in the neighborhood. In the mid- 
dle of a sentence it may be interrupted, or 
some word badly garbled, in the hope of 
arousing the wireless man's curiosity and 
leading him to ask a question. The first dot 
or dash gives the enemy the information he 
is seeking. The high-powered stations also 
take a hand in this deception. Therefore, 
even when an S O S is heard from some 
46 



WIRELESS DANGERS 

friendly ship in danger, the wireless operator 
makes absolutely sure of her identity before 
answering. 

Sometimes a fake call for help will be 
sent out by the Germans over and over again 
for many hours in the hope of getting some 
reply that will betray the position of his prey. 
The strain of listening day and night tells on 
the strongest nerves. But let the wireless 
man make a false move — perhaps only a 
touch of the key — and the alert enemy will 
be instantly headed for him, and the ship will 
meet the fate of the Antilles. 



47 



IX 

HIS LAST WORDS 

THE first American officer to lose his life 
in the present war will be long remem- 
bered. It is not the mere accident of his 
being the first officer to die that distinguishes 
him. Like many others, he displayed a 
courage that is above praise. His last mo- 
ments are especially remarkable because of 
the serenity with which he faced death. 

On April 17, 19 17, the American oil tanker 
Vacuum was torpedoed without warning by 
a German submarine, and sank in two min- 
utes. The Vacuum carried an armed guard 
officered by Lieutenant C. C. Thomas. The 
day was clear but cold, and the sea had not 
yet moderated its winter temperature. 

The blow came without warning. When 
the wake of the torpedo was observed, only 
a few seconds remained before the impact. 
There was no time to lower boats, much less 
to manoeuver the ship to avoid the blow. As 

48 



HIS LAST WORDS 

our sailors have become more familiar with 
submarines they have naturally gained in 
confidence. But in this attack the Ameri- 
can gunners faced a new peril under the 
most trying circumstances. 

The explosion following the impact, threw 
two men overboard, one of whom was 
Lieutenant Thomas. On seeing the torpedo 
approach, Thomas had grasped an ax and 
dashed toward one of the boats. He real- 
ized that there was no time for lowering it to 
the water — every second must be made to 
count. He was chopping the ropes that held 
the boat when the concussion threw him and 
most of the gun crew into the sea. His ef- 
forts had not been useless, however, and in 
the two minutes left before the Vacuum took 
her final plunge others of the crew succeeded 
in loosening the boat and getting her over- 
side. 

But for the deathly chill of the water, 
most of the crew would probably have been 
saved. The sea was very rough and a bit- 
ter wind blew from the north. The work 
of picking up the crew proceeded slowly. It 
was found very difficult to keep the boat from 
49 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

being overturned by the high seas. Some 
time elapsed before the boat chanced upon 
Lieutenant Thomas. He was already too 
weak from exposure to help himself, and had 
to be lifted into the boat. 

The boat continued to row about the point 
where the Vacuum had gone down. It was 
a dangerous position, and a wave soon struck 
and overturned it, throwing the crew into the 
icy sea. The sailors, though numb from 
the cold, succeeded in righting the boat, and 
began once more the perilous work of pick- 
ing up the men. Even now the men in the 
boat might have saved themselves; but, de- 
spite the warning, they persisted in cruising 
about the scene of the wreck. 

A few minutes later the boat was upset a 
second time, and the men were again thrown 
into the water. Strong and vigorous as the 
men were, the second icy bath proved too 
much for their strength. Four of them 
were drowned in the new accident; several 
others died soon after from exposure; and 
of the fourteen men picked up by the boat 
eleven, including Lieutenant Thomas, died 

SO 



HIS LAST WORDS 

from the cold. Their bodies were swept 
overboard. 

When Thomas was picked up the second 
time he was still conscious, but realized that 
his end was very near. The scene was one 
to daunt the strongest spirit — the open boat 
filled with dying men, the waters dotted with 
the bodies of his dead comrades. A sailor 
bent over the officer to shield him from the 
wind. Thomas thanked him, and then with 
an effort made a last request: "See if you 
can find my wife's picture. I had it in my 
blouse." 

The next day,- when a life-boat from the 
Vacuum was picked up, but three survivors 
were found of the eighteen men originally in 
the boat. 



51 



X 

FIRE AT SEA 

WHAT alarm is most feared at sea? 
The greatest terror of all men who 
go down to the sea in ships is doubtless that 
of fire. The boundaries of the largest ships 
are so confined that any blaze quickly endan- 
gers the whole ship. So much of the ship's 
material must be inflammable, and the ar- 
rangement of the cabins and passageways is 
so intricate, that the crew fight at a great 
disadvantage. The danger of collision 
comes mainly with thick weather when the 
sea is smooth. Fire may break out at any 
moment of the day or night, perhaps when 
the sea is roughest, leaving the crew, once 
the fire has gained the upper hand, without 
retreat. 

With the passing of the wooden ships the 
fire menace was brought under better con- 
trol. The steel hull and framework offered 
protection against the hottest flames, and at 

52 



FIRE AT SEA 

the worst gained priceless time for the crew. 
Many marvelous devices have been devised 
to assist in the fight against this ancient 
enemy. 

An arrangement of electric signals may 
connect every corner of the ship with the 
bridge, so that a rise in temperature, meas- 
ured by a delicate thermometer, spreads the 
alarm automatically. The holds and cabins 
are equipped, in some vessels, with sprin- 
kling devices, which are turned on auto- 
matically as the temperature rises. Many 
ships, again, are supplied with water piping 
like that of a city, which may be tapped at 
any point while water pressure is constantly 
maintained. 

Aboard a war-ship the danger of fire is 
increased. The great fabric is made almost 
wholly of steel, but the presence of great 
stores of explosives is a constant menace. 
Fire-alarm systems and fire-fighting ma- 
chinery may be multiplied, but in time of 
danger the last dependency is the alert and 
fearless seaman. The naval authorities are 
especially quick to recognize and reward acts 
of bravery in fighting fire. 

55 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

An American seaman recently fought 
single-handed a very stubborn fire, saving 
not only his own vessel, l^ut three other ships 
in the vicinity. The entire credit for the 
exploit was given to Frank Marsh, a machin- 
ist of the second class, aboard one of our 
submarine-chasers. Marsh had enlisted a 
short time before. His feat was especially 
significant, since it showed the kind of mate- 
rial the Navy can count upon in its newly 
enlisted men. 

The fire broke out suddenly in the engine- 
room, and, feeding on the oil-saturated ma- 
terial, spread with alarming rapidity. Be- 
fore the hose could be adjusted the flames 
had leaped to the walls of the cabin. The 
engine-room force was completely routed. 
The call to fire quarters brought the men to 
their posts, but the heat and the gas fumes 
were unbearable. For several minutes the 
men continued to work blindly; then, believ- 
ing the work impossible, made a rush for the 
upper deck. 

Left to itself, the fire quickly gained head- 
way. The engine-room of a submarine- 
chaser is large in proportion to its size. A 

56 



FIRE AT SEA 

blow amidships from a torpedo or by colli- 
sion of any kind is usually fatal, since a hole 
at this point floods the room, and the ship's 
bulkheads can do little to keep her afloat. 
With the engine-room ablaze the situation is 
almost hopeless. 

The boats were being made ready, when 
Marsh volunteered to go below alone to fight 
the fire. As he disappeared his friends 
thought they saw him for the last time. 
Just what happened amid the flames of the 
engine-room Marsh alone could tell, and 
since he is a modest man the true story can 
only be guessed at. Without assistance he 
soon had the fire under control. 

Marsh had just completed his work and 
had reached the deck, when dense black 
smoke was observed coming from the base 
of the starboard engine. The crew learned 
afterward that the oil had become ignited. 
The fire was extremely difficult to reach. It 
was found useless to get a stream of water 
to it through the portholes. 

An attempt was made to reach it through 
the skylight, but without success. Recog- 
nizing the peril, Marsh returned voluntarily 

57 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

to the engine-room, and, using sea water, 
succeeded in putting out the fire a second 
time. In commending Marsh for bravery 
Secretary Daniels said that his work was 
especially meritorious, since it had not only 
certainly saved the destroyer, but three other 
craft in the vicinity. 

In facing such dangers, it must be remem- 
bered that the sailor is well aware of the risk 
he is taking. He does not rush blindly into 
danger, but from long experience he is en- 
abled to measure his chances with a prac- 
tised eye. The loss of the two water-tend- 
ers in a fire on the U. S. S. Burrows is 
typical. 

Fire had broken out below-decks on the 
Burrows in a particularly inaccessible point. 
The two water-tenders, Charles Bourke and 
Martin Callahan, volunteered to go down to 
it. Knowing the ship as they did, both men 
fully realized their danger in remaining in 
such a position. Both men voluntarily 
abandoned all hope of escape in staying be- 
low. In the suffocating heat of the fire- 
room the men knew that only a few minutes 

58 



FIRE AT SEA 

of life remained to them; but they made no 
eifort to escape. The men were old seamen, 
long in service. 



59 



XI 
HIS GRADUATE COURSE 

MANY of our sailors have entered serv- 
ice directly from the schools and col- 
leges. An interesting experiment is thus 
made possible in testing the efficiency of the 
American school-boy. General von Hinden- 
burg has spoken disparagingly of the ''un- 
trained louts" of America, whom he prophe- 
sied would turn and run once a gun was 
pointed at them. There is, of course, a 
wealth of evidence to confute this hopeful 
German outlook. Every reader of this page 
will doubtless have some relative or friend 
who fails to fit this description. It is inter- 
esting to find a large proportion of the men 
mentioned for conspicuous bravery among 
the recent school-boys. 

There is the case of Henry W. Robinson, 
the hero of submarine-chaser 121. Robin- 
son is a graduate of the Stevens Institute, 
60 



HIS GRADUATE COURSE 

and later took a course in the Naval School 
at Columbia University. He enlisted on 
May 2, 1917, and within a few months had 
seen active service on three submarine- 
chasers. 

He rose rapidly, and was soon placed in 
charge of the engine-room of the chaser 121, 
with the rank of Chief Petty Officer. In 
January, 19 18, — and the date shows how 
quickly our naval officers are turned out, — 
a hurry call was received for all submarine- 
chasers to put to sea. 

The submarine-chaser 121 was well out to 
sea, far from any assistance, when an ugly 
fire broke out in the engine-room. The en- 
gine had back-fired, and some gasolene in 
the bilge was ignited, threatening the entire 
boat. A fire on so small a craft is extremely 
dangerous. The stores of gasolene and 
ammunition must necessarily lie so close that 
a few seconds may determine the fate of the 
craft and all on board. The life of the crew 
depends upon the quickness of her officers 
and men. 

Robinson rushed to the engine-room, to 
find that the gasolene had flashed up and the 

61 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

flames were licking the floor and walls. 
While the crew ran to safety, Robinson 
stood his ground. He fought against terri- 
fying odds. The flames soon reached a can 
of gasolene, which went off with a roar, and 
a moment later spread to Robinson's clothes. 

The situation might have driven the 
strongest man to panic. His uniform was 
saturated with gasolene. The heat in the 
narrow hold was suffocating. The only 
means of escape was by a steep ladder lead- 
ing to the deck. To abandon the engine- 
room meant the loss of the ship. 

Robinson stood his ground, calculating 
chances with a skilful eye. Making his way 
to a rack of hand grenades, he swung the 
globes with a sure aim at the burning floor 
and walls. Several grenades were required, 
but the fire on the floor and walls was finally 
put out. The oil-can, however, was still 
aflame, and Robinson's clothes were burn- 
ing in several places. 

First making sure that the fire in the room 
was out, Robinson picked up the burning oil- 
can and started for the deck. He was al- 
ready badly burned about his neck and face. 

62 



HIS GRADUATE COURSE 

Struggling to the deck, he hurled the blazing 
can overboard, and himself plunged into the 
sea. It was the quickest and safest method 
of putting out the fire on his burning cloth- 
ing, and he had just enough strength left to 
carry it out. Some minutes later he was 
picked up in a semi-conscious condition by 
a tug-boat, and taken ashore for treatment. 
When he was dismissed from the hospital, 
Robinson's face was still badly disfigured 
by burns, a part of one ear was gone, and 
two new eyelids had been grafted on the ones 
he had lost in the engine-room. From the 
hospital he was ordered to report to Annap- 
olis, where he was examined for promotion 
to Ensign. 



63 



PART II 
WITH THE MERCHANT FLEET 



XII 
ROUTINE WORK 

IN protecting our merchant-ships through- 
out the Atlantic crossing, the American 
Navy is fighting on a battle line three thou- 
sand miles in length. The safety of our 
great army en route to France, and the sup- 
ply of food and ammunition, depend, of 
course, upon the uninterrupted passage back 
and forth of the great merchant fleets. 
Should the line break or communication be 
seriously interrupted, the lives of our men 
abroad, even the issue of the war, would be 
seriously endangered. 

Only acts of conspicuous bravery in the 
line of such duty come to the attention of 
the public. To the thousands of alert, fear- 
less men who guard these ships the nation 
owes a debt of gratitude. On thousands of 
voyages the crews must maintain the most 
rigid discipline: at any moment the safety 
67 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

of the ship may depend upon the alertness 
of the lookout. The loss of a few minutes, 
perhaps even of seconds, in observing the 
approach of a U-boat periscope or the wake 
of a torpedo may mean disaster. In case of 
an actual conflict the issue may depend upon 
the accuracy of a single shot. 

Aboard merchant-ships tens of thousands 
of men daily acquit themselves as heroes. 
This routine work, as it may be called, is the 
severest possible test of character and train- 
ing. The service is largely filled with men 
hastily recruited and trained. Boys taken 
from the school and the shop are fitted in a 
few weeks or months for this exacting 
service. 

Men must be found and trained by tens of 
thousands to supply the armed guards. It 
is impossible, of course, to convoy all the 
ships at sea, and a great merchantman, with 
its valuable cargo, must be intrusted to a 
handful of men mounting guard upon two 
comparatively small guns. If a submarine 
be encountered, the gun crew will find them- 
selves outnumbered and facing much heavier 
guns than their own. The ships may cross 

68 



ROUTINE WORK 

a score of times in safety, but the vigilance 
does not relax for a moment. Hour after 
hour, day and night, the water on every side 
must be watched with the most anxious 
attention. 

While it is known, in a general way, that 
great convoys of merchant-ships are con- 
stantly crossing the Atlantic, the layman 
knows little of the labor involved in such 
voyages. It is common for a fleet of as 
many as thirty merchant-ships to cross to- 
gether. The news reports mention that they 
are "heavily convoyed," and their safe ar- 
rival is taken as a matter of course. To 
guard a fleet of this size, strung out over 
miles of water, necessitates guarding them 
on every side. A ring must be thrown about 
them, so to speak, and remain unbroken 
throughout the trip. Let a single subma- 
rine pass this guard, and it would do enor- 
mous damage to the fleet. The fact that 
inside of a year a million or more soldiers 
were safely carried to France will go down 
in history as one of the navy's greatest 
achievements. 

The discipline maintained on all merchant- 
69 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

ships against the hour of danger is no less 
rigid than aboard a man of war. The fre- 
quent boat and fire drills, the instruction in 
the use of life-preservers, the suppression of 
all lights at night, and many other details of 
life aboard ship in these stirring times, are 
controlled with military strictness. In a 
few months the life aboard ocean liners has 
been completely transformed. The great 
floating population on a thousand ships has 
been mobilized. 

In case of attack, the entire ship's com- 
pany will be found ready to meet any situa- 
tion. The most serious danger fails to 
throw the ship into confusion. Every one 
has been trained since the first day at sea, 
so that no time will be lost in reaching the 
boats. However swiftly the blow may fall, 
this discipline safeguards the passengers 
and prevents the panics common in ship- 
wrecks of the past. A place is fixed in ad- 
vance for every one on board, and, even if 
the ship must be abandoned, the people in the 
boats will still be under discipline. 



70 




(C) Press Illustrating Service. 

A 400-lb. Charge of Powder for a 14-inch Gun 



XIII 
THE FIRST BLOW 

THE S.S. Columbia, the first American 
ship to be deliberately destroyed by a 
German submarine, was sunk — and the date 
is significant — in November, 191 6. Sailing 
from Boston for French and Italian ports, 
she carried 1500 horses and 10,000 tons of 
steel and copper, with a crew all told of 130, 
which rendered her a very tempting target. 
America had not yet entered the war, but 
the German submarine U-53 had recently 
made its disastrous raid off Newport, sink- 
ing five vessels. There was trouble in the 
air. 

Carrying no armed guard, the Columbia 
was wholly defenseless and should have been 
safe under the international sea code. De- 
spite this provocation, our Government re- 
fused to place naval guns and gunners 
aboard merchant-ships until some months 
later. Her story may be told here, never- 

73 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

theless, for its historic importance and the 
inspiring spirit of the seamen of our mer- 
chant fleets. 

While loading at Boston a mysterious 
rumor spread along the docks that the Co- 
lumbia would be torpedoed, and several of 
her engineers thereupon quit the ship. 
Their places were quickly filled and the ship 
cleared without incident for St. Nazaire. 
The voyage over was uneventful, if the ex- 
citement of running with lights out through 
submarine-infested waters may be called 
uneventful. 

On nearing the war zone, every precau- 
tion was taken. The life-boats were swung 
outboard and fully equipped for an emer- 
gency, while the crew were put through con- 
stant boat drills. Some miles off shore a 
French mine pilot came aboard and brought 
the Columbia through the mine fields to the 
safety of the naval dock at St. Nazaire. A 
part of the cargo of horses was unloaded 
here, a number of French soldiers assisting, 
while a group of German prisoners stood on 
the docks to lead the horses away. 

The blow fell two days later, in a storm at 
74 



THE FIRST BLOW 

sea. The first warning was the report of a 
cannon, and a few minutes later a shot 
splashed in the water on the port bow. The 
ship was stopped, for she was slow and de- 
fenseless. The Captain hurried to the wire- 
less booth and gave the operator the ship's 
position, but directed that it be held back 
for the present. The submarine was now 
sighted cruising about at a distance of about 
three miles. Some twenty minutes later a 
second shot rang out, when the Captain or- 
dered that the S O S be sent out. 

Having lost her seaway, the ship rolled 
violently. The' waves swept her deck and 
broke many of the horse stalls and fittings. 
For some anxious minutes there was no re- 
sponse to the wireless call for help, but at 
last a reply came from the Spanish land sta- 
tion at Cape Finisterre. The Columbia's 
wireless operator replied that a submarine 
was cruising about and firing at them, but 
did not mention that she was German, for 
the U-boat was doubtless listening in. The 
Spaniards asked if there were any boats 
near enough to help in case the Columbia 
was torpedoed. 

75 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

It was observed that the submarine was 
flying a string of flags, but the distance was 
too great for them to be read. The Captain 
of the Columbia now decided to make a dash. 
The wireless apparatus was shut off, and 
the ship, changing her course, went ahead 
at forced draught. Nothing was seen of the 
submarine for an hour, and the crew were 
beginning to breathe freely when the U-boat 
overtook them. Her guns were not effec- 
tive at such long range, but her wireless 
order was peremptory : 

''Stop your wireless; ask no questions or 
I will shoot." 

The sending apparatus was shut off, but it 
was still possible to receive messages. Cape 
Finisterre evidently realized the situation, 
for she now sent a message suggesting, if the 
Columbia could not transmit a call, that she 
send a single long dash, and they would 
know what had happened and send a ship to 
her assistance. The Germans meanwhile 
sent several such messages as ''Where are 
you bound?" "What is your cargo?" 
"Where bound from?" Later they ordered 
the Columbia to turn, and because she did 

76 



THE FIRST BLOW 

not turn quickly enough to please theni she 
threatened: "Turn at once or I will shoot." 

The night came on and the storm in- 
creased. Perhaps the most trying part of 
the experience was the realization that there 
was help near by, powerless to come to their 
assistance. The submarine moved up to 
within five hundred yards of the Columbia, 
and all wireless sending was at an end. An 
English vessel in the neighborhood was now 
heard calling Cape Finisterre. Later the 
Spanish yacht Giralda called repeatedly to 
know if she should lend assistance. She ex- 
plained that she was at Coruna and had been 
sent by the Spanish Government to help the 
Americans. Throughout the night Cape 
Finisterre continued to call, fearing the 
worst had happened. 

When day broke the submarine ordered 
by wireless, ''Come nearer and send a boat 
over to us"; and later, "Send your Captain 
over to us." Before the Captain could leave 
his ship, a boat arrived from the submarine 
with a German lieutenant and eight sailors, 
who came aboard. One of them was a wire- 
less operator. 

79 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

The moment they reached the deck the 
aerial was lowered, while the wireless man 
ran aft to the wireless room. He carried 
two large bombs, which he explained were 
intended to blow up the ship. The wireless 
apparatus was at once dismantled, and after- 
ward taken aboard the submarine. While 
the wireless room was being torn out the 
German lieutenant appeared in the doorway 
and, pointing his pistol at the operator, said 
gruffly : 

''Don't you know you shouldn't use wire- 
less when a submarine is around? We 
should have torpedoed you then. I ought 
to shoot you now." 

The crew was lined up on deck. They 
were wearing life-preservers. The Ger- 
mans filled a boat with provisions from the 
ship's ice-box and with fresh water. It was 
bitterly cold, and the men were obliged to 
stand exposed to the wind, their clothing 
drenched with the icy water. First the 
Captain was put in a boat and taken to the 
submarine, where he was kept prisoner for 
many days and finally landed in Spain. 

The crew were at last put in boats and 
80 



THE FIRST BLOW 

taken to a Norwegian ship, the Balto, which 
the Germans had previously captured. 
From her deck they afterward watched the 
sinking of the Columbia. Two bombs were 
exploded, but the staunch American craft 
was not injured in a vital part. Her old 
crew watched for forty-live minutes, but she 
showed no signs of sinking. The submarine 
then launched a torpedo at her, which struck 
amidships. She began to go down rapidly. 
Her after-decks were soon awash, then her 
stern went down, while her bow rose high 
in the air. She came up once, then slowly 
settled and disappeared. 

The American and Norwegian crews were 
obliged to witness several captures, and were 
finally allowed to row to the Spanish coast, 
and eventually found their way to New 
York. 

The sinking of the Columbia deserves a 
place in our sea history, if only for the spirit 
of its Captain in fighting against hopeless 
odds. When forced to abandon his ship, 
and not knowing what fate awaited him on 
the German submarine, he found words of 
encouragement for his crew. As the boat 

8i 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

carried him away from his ship he stood up, 
and, waving his hand to his old crew, shouted 
cheerily: '^Good-by, boys. I hope to see 
you again. Obey orders." 



82 



XIV 
WITHOUT WARNING 

THE first armed merchant-ship to leave 
New York, the S.S. Aztec, sailed on 
March i8, 19 17. She was soon followed by 
the Manchuria, at that time the largest of 
American-built ships, and by the famous vS^^. 
Louis. It was realized that the first armed 
American ship to venture into the war 
zone would be the target for submarine at- 
tack. The German government had made 
very clear what they purposed doing to any 
ship flying the Stars and Stripes that was 
so presumptuous as to attempt to defend her- 
self. 

The naval gunners faced a new situation. 
Their experience in fighting had been gained 
in the open, facing an enemy who stood up to 
fight. No one doubted the ability of the 
gunners to give a good account of themselves 
under any conditions, but they had not then 

83 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

gained confidence in combatting this new sea 
menace. Every one realized the great dis- 
advantage under which they must fight in 
this first encounter, and the country waited 
anxiously for word of her. 

One March morning at about six o'clock a 
gunner on lookout sighted a submarine fol- 
lowing the ship at a considerable distance. 
The guns were manned and trained on the 
enemy; but, observing these preparations, 
the U-boat quickly submerged, and no more 
was seen of her. On the evening of the 
same day the Astec sighted another subma- 
rine. She was running at full speed with 
lights out when the blow fell. 

The work of darkening ship and blinding 
every possible gleam of light aboard is more 
difficult than it appears. The great hull is 
likely to leak light at a hundred different 
points. With the best intention in the 
world, some one may move the curtain from 
a port-hole, perhaps only for an instant, or 
a door may be opened that will give the Ger- 
mans the clue they are watching for. A 
great ship was once lost because a ship's 
printer, working very late at night, opened 

84 



WITHOUT WARNING 

his port near the water for a breath of fresh 
air. The Germans afterward explained 
that this gleam of light enabled them to aim 
their torpedo. 

At about nine-thirty in the evening the 
Chief Engineer of the Aztec had noticed that 
some light escaped from the port of the 
wireless cabin, and went aft to warn the 
operator. The wireless man was at work 
at his station at the time, and, putting down 
his receiver, went outside to examine it. It 
was raining hard and a gusty wind lashed 
the deck. The light was darkened, and the 
wireless operator, noticing the chief gunner 
standing at the rail, crossed the deck to join 
him. Both men stood looking down into the 
water for a moment, when the wireless man 
made a cup of his hand and, raising his voice 
above the wind, asked the gunner if he saw 
anything. 

Before there was time for an answer, a 
torpedo struck the ship's side directly below 
them. The force of the explosion threw the 
gunner overboard, and nothing was again 
seen of him. Another man standing near 
by had his head completely severed from his 

85 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

body by the explosion. The wireless man 
was struck by a piece of flying wreckage, 
which tore away the leg of his trousers, in- 
flicted a wound of fourteen inches in length, 
and hurled him a distance of twenty-five feet 
down the deck. 

The wireless operator, who brought the 
story ashore, probably lay unconscious for 
several minutes. When he regained con- 
sciousness he ran to the wireless room, only 
to find it completely wrecked. The last 
chance of calling for help was gone. The 
ship's deck was quite dark, and the driving 
rain made it impossible to see an object a 
few feet away. On running out on the deck, 
the wireless man found the Naval Lieuten- 
ant and the Captain calmly giving orders. 
Only a minute or two of life remained for 
the ship, but they were used to the best 
advantage. 

A life-boat was lowered, but before it 
could reach the water a great wave broke it 
against the ship's side, and the seven men 
who manned her were thrown into the sea. 
A second boat was filled, successfully low- 
ered, and disappeared in the darkness. 
86 



WITHOUT WARNING 

The skill and fearlessness of a boatswain's 
mate, John Eopolucci, was later especially 
commended. Eopolucci had stood by his 
gun until it was out of commission, when 
he was ordered to assist with the life-boats. 
He worked desperately helping to lower the 
boats and get them away, standing calmly at 
his station while others escaped. While 
struggling with one of the life-boats he was 
thrown into the water and lost, Eopolucci 
was the first enlisted man of the Navy to lose 
his life. He had served with credit for 
eight years, and reenlisted in 19 15. 

The Aztec sank with terrifying rapidity. 
A few seconds more threatened to bring the 
last plunge. The gunners' boat was now 
made ready. The naval officer remained on 
deck, directing the lowering of the boat. 
No one was left on board except the Captain, 
the Naval Lieutenant, and the wireless man. 

The ship's discipline was observed until 
the end. The Captain finally ordered the 
operator to abandon ship, and when he had 
succeeded in leaping from the swinging deck 
to the boat the Captain and then the Naval 
Lieutenant followed him. The boat had 

89 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

only succeeded in gaining a hundred yards 
from the ship when she sHd beneath the sur- 
face. The top of her funnel disappeared in 
less than seven minutes after she was struck. 

In the intense darkness of the storm no 
lights were visible, and the boat floundered 
about in the heavy sea for five hours, when 
a French boat was sighted. The crew fired 
their pistols to attract its attention, but the 
sound failed to carry against the wind. The 
Lieutenant then lighted a Coston distress 
signal, which in his foresight he had found 
time to save from the ship, and the boat at 
last turned toward them. She proved to be 
a French patrol boat very happily named the 
Jeanne d'Arc. The French officers helped 
our men aboard and made them welcome, 
sharing their clothing and warm quarters. 

Of the Aztec's crew of thirty-six men, but 
six were rescued. 

As an especial mark of respect, Secretary 
and Mrs. Daniels called upon Mrs. Eopo- 
lucci, the widowed mother of the sailor, to 
express their sympathy. The interest they 
would naturally take in the first member of 
America's fighting forces to die in the war 
90^ 



WITHOUT WARNING 

was heightened by the fact that Eopolucci 
was for two years one of the crew of the 
Dolphin, on which the Secretary and his 
wife had made frequent trips. 

Mrs. Daniels' visit was the second she had 
paid to this home. The previous Saturday 
afternoon she and Mrs. William D. Leahy, 
wife of the commander of the U. S. S. 
Dolphin, had called on Mrs. Eopolucci; and 
later Mrs. Leahy sent a bouquet of Easter 
lilies. 



91 



XV 

THE "SILVER SHELL" 

FROM the first, no one doubted the ability 
of the American sailor to down the Ger- 
man submarine. The stirring victory of the 
Silver Shell on May 30, 191 7, closely fol- 
lowing America's entrance into the war, re- 
assured us. The Silver Shell was only a 
tanker — the last ship in the world, it would 
seem, to be pitted successfully against a Ger- 
man super-submarine. But she carried two 
four-inch guns and an armed guard, lent for 
the occasion by the United States Navy. 

The voyage from an American port to 
Marseilles promised at that time to be un- 
eventful. It was not thought that the south- 
ern ship lanes were seriously threatened. 
Even in mid-Atlantic, however, the lookout 
was not allowed to relax its vigilance. 

The bulky tanker was, of course, at a 
great disadvantage in this game of hide-and- 
seek with the submarines, since she offered 
92 



THE "SILVER SHELL" 

a distinct target. At three o'clock one morn- 
ing, a thousand miles off shore, a submarine 
was sighted so close in that the throb of her 
engines could be distinctly heard. A mo- 
ment later the Silver Shell swept past within 
one hundred feet of the enemy. 

The submarine was moving on the surface 
of the water, while her crew were seen to be 
busied charging her batteries, probably for 
the day's run. Clearly the German lookout 
had been caught napping, although the ad- 
vantage for observation had been all on his 
side. The submarine made no attempt to 
give chase. Before the after gun of the 
Silver Shell could be trained on the subma- 
rine, she was swallowed up in the darkness. 

Farther on, another grim reminder of the 
danger of the U-boats was encountered. A 
wooden ship was sighted floating bottom up. 
A gaping wotmd in her side, obviously the 
work of a torpedo, told her story — or all, at 
least, that the world was ever to learn. 
Floating about the wreck was an empty life- 
boat and a few life-preservers with other 
wreckage. 

On the voyage across sixteen warnings of 
93 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

the presence of submarines were picked up 
by the ship's wireless, of which twelve re- 
ported submarines in the Mediterranean. 
As the Silver Shell approached these his- 
toric waters, the nervous tension increased. 
A flotilla of undersea craft doubtless awaited 
her coming. The tanker had reached a 
point a day and a half steaming from Mar- 
seilles, when on May 30 — and the date is 
historic — she was sighted by an enemy craft. 
Evidently the submarine had news of her 
approach and had lain in wait for her. 

When the alarm was sounded, the subma- 
rine was observed off the Silver Shell's star- 
board bow. She was one of the largest 
types of her class, measuring more than 
three hundred feet in length. The long 
awaited moment had arrived. Working at 
top speed, but without confusion, the crew 
went through their life-boat drill made fa- 
miliar by constant practice. The boats were 
made ready to lower into the water, and the 
entire ship's company buckled on their life- 
belts. 

So quickly had the drill been carried out 
that the bundles containing the valuables 

94 



THE "SILVER SHELL" 

were being tumbled into the life-boats by the 
time the first shot was fired by the German. 
It exploded about a hundred yards short of 
the ship. A second shot fired a moment 
later did better, just missing the wireless 
cabin, and, passing over the ship, struck the 
water just ahead. 

A string of code flags fluttering from the 
German ship had meanwhile been deci- 
phered. It ordered the Silver Shell to haul 
down the American flag and wait until the 
Germans came aboard. By way of reply, 
the Chief of Turret, W. J. Clark, opened on 
the submarine with the four-inch aft gun. 

For the first few shots the range was wide ; 
but this was quickly observed and the ex- 
treme elevation pin of the gun was knocked 
out, giving the gun about forty degrees. 
The American shells were seen to drop about 
the submarine with terrifying accuracy. 

Against the tanker's battery of four-inch 
guns the Germans brought to bear two five- 
inch guns. By all the rules of the game the 
Germans had the advantage, and for a time 
they clearly outshot the Silver Shell. Sev- 
eral shells burst about the tanker. One 

95 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

missed the cabin by a short two feet. The 
roar of the guns and the explosions were 
deafening. The range was now under 3000 
yards. 

Not the least difficult post, meanwhile, was 
that of the wireless operator. Throughout 
the engagement he never left his key. His 
assistant buckled a life-belt about him as he 
worked. Every explosion now knocked the 
delicate radio apparatus out of adjustment. 
A call for help had been thrown broadcast 
over the waters of the Mediterranean. A 
vessel asked in Spanish, ''What vessel is that 
asking for help?" and repeated the query 
until it seemed that she was deliberately 
interfering. Finally the station at Algiers 
answered. Her message read, "Help thirty- 
five miles northwest, gunboat FQ." 

A few moments later the Silver Shell suc- 
ceeded in picking up the gunboat FQ, and 
received the welcome message, "Coming as 
fast as possible." 

Under normal conditions the Silver Shell 
had never been able to make more than 
eleven knots an hour. In response to a des- 
perate demand for speed, she now crept up 

96 



THE "SILVER SHELL" 

to a perilous fourteen. Her safety-valve 
had been screwed down. It soon became 
clear, however, that the enemy held re- 
sources of speed in reserve, for the stretch 
of sea that separated them was steadily nar- 
rowed. The submarine could be clearly 
seen in the wake. She made very heavy 
weather of it. Her decks were constantly 
swept by the head seas, so that her gun crews 
were buried in water to their waists. But 
between the intervals of every plunge she 
fired, and the shells came with amazing reg- 
ularity every ten seconds. 

It was a very daunting business to watch 
the firing of the gun that might be hurling 
death and destruction. There would be a 
flash, and then for ten breathless seconds 
the crew must wait for the arrival of the 
shell and its explosion. When the subma- 
rine had crept up to a 2300-yard range, she 
used shrapnel to sweep the decks. Any one 
of the shots might be the end. It was esti- 
mated that fifteen minutes more of this firing 
would destroy all above-decks, while the life- 
boats would be at the mercy of the guns if 
the crew should try to escape. 

97 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

The attack ended as suddenly as it had 
begun. Throughout the engagement the 
men had served their guns with skill and 
courage above praise. While facing a supe- 
rior battery which fired in all thirty-five 
shots, the Americans had delivered twenty- 
five shots, but their superior gunnery won 
the day. At the critical moment a shot 
struck the submarine just aft of her conning- 
tower. Her bow rose high in the water, and 
she slowly sank stern first, her crew clinging 
to the deck. 

The engagement had lasted less than half 
an hour. No member of the Silver Shell's 
crew was seriously injured. A last word, 
however, was heard from the Germans. 
The wireless operator soon after picked up 
an unsigned message reading, 'Tf possible, 
steer south. I will meet you in an hour." 
Evidently the message was a decoy sent out 
by some submarine in the neighborhood. 
All messages sent out by ships that are not 
authorized or confirmed by land stations, 
however, are disregarded. 

In giving credit for this valiant sea fight, 
the Government especially commended Chief 

98 



THE "SILVER SHELL" 

of Turret W. J. Clark, an enlisted man who 
had served twelve years in the Navy. It 
was due to his excellent judgment that the 
guns and gunners had been handled so 
efficiently. 

A few minutes later the gunboat FQ asked 
by wireless for the Silver Shell's new posi- 
tion, and on receiving news of the fight 
flashed back, ''Good work." 

Three hours later the gunboat approached 
so close that messages were exchanged by 
Morse lamp signals. The next day the Sil- 
ver Shell triumphantly entered the harbor of 
Marseilles, to ' find that she was the first 
American ship to reach that port since the 
United States had declared war on Germany. 



99 



XVI 
A RECORD PERFORMANCE 

FOR more than a year the victory of the 
Borinqiien has been unsurpassed for 
fast and decisive fighting. Taken unawares 
in the middle of the night, her crew re- 
sponded so vigorously to a submarine attack 
that her third shot sent the enemy craft down 
stern first. 

Every factor favored the U-boat. She 
had sighted the Borinqiien from a distance, 
when the low-lying submarine was naturally 
invisible, and had managed to creep up to 
within eighty 3'^ards of the steamer before 
firing her first shot. There was therefore 
ample time to make every preparation. The 
men were at their stations; the guns were 
trained on the most vital part of the mer- 
chantman. In night attacks it is impossible 
to equalize the terms on which two such 
antagonists meet. The great bulk of the 
100 



A RECORD PERFORMANCE 

steamers offer a conspicuous target, while 
the U-boat's diminutive size and greater 
speed lend her an overwhelming advantage. 

To balance this handicap, the merchant- 
ship must rely on the vigilance of her crew 
and the accuracy of her gunners. The 
alarm was sounded within a few minutes of 
midnight on an unusually dark night. The 
commander of the guard. Gunner's Mate 
Thomas J. Beerman, was in his quarters 
at the time, working on his log. It is essen- 
tial on these cruises that it be known at 
every moment of the day or night just where 
the ship lies. The Borinquen was on a very 
dangerous sea lane approaching a French 
port. The strain on the men is very trying 
at such times. The officers are on duty 
about twenty hours out of every twenty- 
four. 

There was a shout of warning from one 
of the men at the guns, and at almost the 
same instant a shot rang out. By the time 
the crew could rush across the narrow deck 
to their stations, a second shot was fired. 
Through the misty darkness the outlines of 
the submarine could barely be defined. She 

lOI 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

lay off the port bow, a mere shadow on the 
water some eighty yards away. So close in 
was the enemy that the sparks of her wire- 
less could be clearly seen. She was evi- 
dently in communication with some other 
German boat. It was impossible to guess 
whether her reinforcements were far or 
near. 

But the wireless served the Americans for 
the moment at least, and this sufficed. The 
faint sparks gave the Americans a clue in 
the inky blackness. Although the subma- 
rine went into action with all her crew at 
their quarters, and the Americans might nat- 
urally at such an hour have been off their 
guard, the reply of the Borinquen came be- 
fore the German could fire a third time. 
The shot grazed the conning-tower of the 
submarine. 

Both ships were now firing point-blank. 
There was little chance of missing at this 
short range, although the advantage was still 
greatly in favor of the Germans. All real- 
ized that a few seconds must decide the issue 
of the battle, one way or the other. 

The third shot from the American gun- 

I02 



A RECORD PERFORMANCE 

ners on the Borinquen struck the U-boat's 
conning-tower fairly, and exploded. It 
proved to be the decisive shot of the engage- 
ment. A fourth shot was not needed. The 
submarine slowly Hfted. Her prow rose 
high in the water, and she sank rapidly, bow 
first. Within a few seconds the water had 
closed over her. 

In the official comment on this victory, 
especial stress was laid upon the alertness 
of the crew in responding to the alarm. 
Every waking hour is a constant strain for 
all on board, and there is little rest for the 
gun crews. A delay of a few seconds in 
responding to the call to quarters would 
probably have lost the ship. The alarm, be- 
sides, came after several days spent in the 
danger zone, when the strain might be ex- 
pected to tell on all the men engaged. To 
down a powerful submarine with three shots 
is even more than the most sanguine gunner 
might reasonably expect. 



103 



I 



XVII 
ONE OF THE FIRST TESTS 

T remains to be seen if the lightning 
Americans can cope with the Germans 
who have been trained from their youth up." 
So said the Kaiser when America entered 
the war. The question has been quickly an- 
swered. Within a few weeks after the dec- 
laration of war, the armed guards aboard 
American ships had given an excellent 
account of themselves. 

The work of the armed guards is ex- 
tremely exacting. Like trench warfare, 
such fighting requires a highly trained per- 
sonnel. It is high praise for the discipline 
and training of our sailors that they should 
have acquitted themselves so brilliantly upon 
such slight experience in this new warfare. 

One of the earliest of our victories came 
with the encounter, in the first weeks of the 
war, between the transport Nyanza and a 
104 



ONE OF THE FIRST TESTS 

submarine. Our men were new to the dif- 
ficulties and dangers of warfare in these 
submarine-infested waters. A periscope is 
an exceedingly 'elusive object at sea. They 
are very small, and project only a few inches 
above the surface of the water. To make 
the work of the submarine observer more 
difficult, they are painted a silvery gray to 
blend with the color of the sea. Their sur- 
faces are, besides, treated so that they will 
not reflect the rays of the sun. Although 
the American sailors aboard the Nyanza had 
never seen a German U-boat, they had been 
trained in an excellent school. It is a matter 
of official record that the lookout on the 
American transport in her first engagement 
sighted the silvered periscope of the German 
submarine at a thousand yards. 

The range is short enough for torpedo 
work, and gives a ship little time for manoeu- 
vering. A moment after the periscope was 
sighted, the German loosed a torpedo. It 
was reported, and by skilful seamanship the 
Nyanza dodged the blow. Her helm was 
put hard to port and the vessel's stern swung 
clear. At the same time, her gunners 
105 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

opened fire on the undersea craft. The 
German fell astern, rose to the surface, and 
gave chase. The transport, which was 
filled with American soldiers, made a tempt- 
ing target. 

The battle began at rather short range. 
The German used two guns, firing shrapnel. 
Her manoeuver was new to the Americans. 
She darted about at a high speed, zigzagging 
from side to side to make it possible to use 
both her guns at once, and at the same time 
helping to confuse the American's aim. The 
submarine fired, in all, about two hundred 
shots. The Nyansa was hit five times. 
One shell passed completely through the 
ship; another destroyed the guard mess- 
room; still another wrecked the gun plat- 
form. None of the shells, however, hit any 
of the gunners or interrupted the fire. So 
close did one of the shots come that a cadet 
engineer was wounded, his clothing being 
literally torn from his body. 

The fire of the American gunners was 
very fast. They sent, in all, ninety-two 
rounds, less than half the number of Ger- 
man shells. The Germans had a much 
106 



ONE OF THE FIRST TESTS 

larger target to hit. The submarine was 
not only low in the water, but her rapid zig- 
zag manoeuver rendered it extremely diffi- 
cult to strike. The Nyanza gunners finally 
found the range, however, and sent four 
shells into the German. The submarine 
turned broadside, keeled over, and disap- 
peared. The battle had lasted two and a 
half hours. The Germans had been out- 
manoeuvered and outfought at every turn. 

In the officer's report of the engagement, 
he closes with the hopeful remark: "Our 
gunners gained experience which I think will 
be manifested in the next attack." 



107 



XVIII 
BEFORE AND AFTER THE WRECK 

NO mere landsman can appreciate the 
work of the men far below decks in a 
sea fight. In the open air, or near it, a sailor 
may be said to face his antagonist. Even if 
he be shut in behind armored walls, there is 
still an encouraging sense of freedom. If 
the worst comes, a step brings him to the 
open deck or the boats. A man can endure 
much who knows that his retreat is kept 
open. 

Few landsmen have visited the engine- 
rooms of ocean liners or war-ships. It is a 
terrifying experience under the most favor- 
able conditions. The holds set apart for the 
machinery lie at the foot of deep shafts far 
below the surface of the sea. The visitor 
is led through intricate passageways until it 
seems a hopeless task to find his way back 
to daylight. At the opening of these shafts 
the ordinary staircases come to an end, and 
io8 




td 




BEFORE AND AFTER THE WRECK 

a steep descent must be made down perpen- 
dicular iron ladders. 

Here one leaves the comfort of the ship's 
cabins behind. Everything is built of metal, 
which becomes hot and grimy. The heat in- 
creases as one descends, until in the neigh- 
borhood of the engines it becomes suffocat- 
ing. A few dim electric lights partially re- 
veal the unfamiliar scene. The great shapes 
of the engines and boilers, the dark shadows 
in every corner, the flare of the fires, strike 
terror to the landlubber. Let this crowded 
hold swing violently as the ship rolls and 
pitches, and the place becomes a nightmare. 

In a sea fight the engine-room is a place of 
imminent danger to all. The crew, working 
in semi-darkness, know little of what is going 
on high above them. The electric signals 
that keep these* remote regions in instant 
communication with the bridge tell almost 
nothing. The crew, receiving calls for in- 
creased speed or a sudden stoppage of the 
engines, can only guess at what is happening. 

In a fight with a submarine the danger is, 
of course, greatly increased. The torpedo 
strikes below the belt. The heaviest arma- 
III 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

ment above the water-line offers no protec- 
tion to the crew in the engine-room. With- 
out a moment's warning, the ship's side may 
be shattered by an explosion from a well- 
directed torpedo, and the inrush of water 
may drown the men like rats in a trap. 
Even when escape is not shut off, the perpen- 
dicular ladders leading from the engine- 
room to safety offer a precarious footing. 
A slip, as the boat swings violently from side 
to side, may mean a fatal fall. To carry the 
injured to the deck above, even in a smooth 
sea, is difficult work. 

From this glimpse of these lower regions, 
one may gain some idea of the courage that 
keeps the crew at their stations in the engine- 
rooms throughout a submarine battle. 
When the decisive blow falls and the ship 
begins to fill and sink, it is often a terrify- 
ing race with death to reach the decks and 
such safety as they afford. 

In the engagement between the Alcedo 
and a submarine, the crew, as usual, stood 
manfully at their posts. They had worked 
for hours without news from above, when a 
terrifying explosion shook the ship. A por- 

112 



BEFORE AND AFTER THE WRECK 

tion of the hull had been torn away by the 
impact, and the water rushed in. The crew 
ran to the ladders. 

A member of the engine-room force, of 
his own will, remained behind. The lights 
had been extinguished, and the water rapidly 
mounting soon reached to his knees. Know- 
ing the engine-room by heart, even in the 
darkness and confusion, he made his way to 
the safety-valve. The machinery was so 
disjointed by the shock that the power could 
not be turned on, and it was necessary to 
raise the safety-valve slowly, laboriously, by 
hand. The water rose above the man's 
knees before the work was completed. To 
operate the machinery required a cool head 
and a steady hand. 

Later, when the Alee do was sunk by a 
submarine, her crew displayed unusual gal- 
lantry. The ship sank in a winter sea, when 
the icy water might have terrified the bravest 
men. A member of the Alcedo's crew, after 
swimming about for some time, found a raft 
and succeeded in climbing on it. It was soon 
found that the raft was overcrowded and 
the lives of all were imperiled unless some 
113 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

one freed it of his weight. There were no 
other boats or rafts in sight at the time. No 
drawing of lots was needed to select the one 
who should face the new danger. No argu- 
ment was necessary, much less any force. A 
second-class seaman quietly volunteered. 
With a hasty good-by, he stood up and quite 
calmly jumped into the water. The unsel- 
fish sailor of the Alee do who willingly gave 
up his place on the life-raft should be 
counted in any estimate of our gallantry as 
a nation. He was picked up by a boat after 
long exposure and brought safely ashore. 



114 



XIX 

ABOARD THE LARGEST 
TRANSPORT 

ONE of the most significant victories of 
the war, destined to Hve long in the 
history of the Navy, was won on the bridge 
and in the engine-room of a merchant-ship. 
UnUke most naval engagements, which last 
but a few hours, this victory was won by 
skill and vigilance that was never relaxed 
for more than a week. The heroes of the 
battle are two young men, the American cap- 
tain and engineer of the steamship Levia- 
than (formerly the Vaterland) . 

The Leviathan, as all the world knows, is 
the largest ship in commission. Her great 
length of nearly looo feet, her width of more 
than 100 feet, and her tonnage of more than 
50,000, are, of course, familiar figures. So 
complicated is the navigation of the great 
liner that her German owners considered it 
necessary for her to carry five ranking cap- 
tains. The chief, with the title of Commo- 
ns 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

dore, exercised general supervision, while 
four captains devoted their entire attention 
to special departments. One was an expert 
in navigation, a second in machinery, a third 
in signals. 

The work of the men in the great engine- 
room was also highly specialized. To drive 
this enormous bulk through the water, the 
most powerful marine engines ever con- 
structed were installed. The complication 
of this vast network of machinery was be- 
wildering. Eight engineers presided over 
the engines, each busied with a special de- 
partment of his own. All Germany took 
immense pride in this largest of steamships 
and in the skill and efficiency of its crew. 

When the United States was drawn into 
the Great War, it was, of course, realized 
that the German ships might be seized, in- 
cluding the greatest prize of the fleet, the 
Vaterland; and plans long matured were at 
once carried out to disable the ships scienti- 
fically, beyond hope of repair, by Americans, 
at least. Certain vital parts of the machin- 
ery of the ships were destroyed or impaired. 

On the day that this havoc was wrought, 
ii6 



ABOARD THE TRANSPORT 

orders were sent to Germany to manufacture 
these parts from the original ships' draw- 
ings, and to hold them in readiness to ship to 
America. The German reasoning was con- 
clusive. It was impossible, they believed, 
for these parts to be made in America. The 
ships must therefore lie useless until the end 
of the war, when new parts would be hurried 
from Germany, installed by German work- 
men, and the ships would be as good as new. 
The Germans made no allowance for 
American ingenuity. When the fleet was 
taken over by our government, the havoc in- 
flicted by the. German engineers was found 
to be appalling. The delicate machinery 
had been attacked with sledge-hammers in 
the most vital parts. To reproduce the in- 
jured parts would have been the work of 
months, perhaps years. But, with charac- 
teristic ingenuity, the naval officers sought a 
short cut, and found one. The broken parts 
were welded together by means of acetylene 
flame and electric devices, and the parts on 
being tested were found to be stronger than 
ever. Within a few weeks the fleet was 
ready for the sea under its new flag. 
117 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

Here was a triumph for American engi- 
neering, but the work was not at an end. 
The Germans had made the fatal mistake of 
grossly underrating the despised Americans. 
They had scoffed at the idea that Americans 
could master the intricacies of their machin- 
ery. The instruments used by the naviga- 
tion officers, for instance, are extremely com- 
plicated. The Vaterland had been equipped 
with a gyroscopic compass that served as the 
mother compass for a secondary set. The 
great hull, again, was divided by steel bulk- 
heads into upward of fifty water-tight com- 
partments, which rendered her practically 
unsinkable. This elaborate precaution was 
taken to guard against danger in case of col- 
lision or other accident at sea. All this ma- 
chinery the American officers put in order, 
and the equipment now serves admirably in 
case of torpedo attack. There are, besides, 
elaborate devices for indicating the outbreak 
of fire in any part of the ship, and systems 
of electric communication which keep every 
part of the enormous hull in instant touch 
with the bridge. 

The Leviathan has made many trips carry- 
ii8 



ABOARD THE TRANSPORT 

ing ii,ooo American soldiers — by far the 
greatest number ever accommodated on a 
single ship. The writer has seen Germans 
greatly amused at the suggestion that a mere 
American could preside over so vast and 
complicated a fabric as the largest of steam- 
ships; but still another surprise awaited the 
Germans. A single officer, aged twenty- 
eight years, borrowed from the United States 
Navy, took complete charge of the engines 
of the Leviathan, replacing eight highly spe- 
cialized German experts. In place of the 
five captains, a single American officer, aged 
thirty-two years, directed the great ship 
from the bridge. And, with her patched 
machinery and reduced staff of executive 
officers, the largest of ships lowered her own 
best previous record by nearly a knot an hour 
throughout the Atlantic crossing. 



119 



XX 

VIA WIRELESS 

ALTHOUGH countless changes have 
transformed its fleets and new perils 
tested the bravery of its men, the spirit of 
the Navy is unalterable. A century after 
Perry's stirring command, "Don't give up 
the ship," the same fearless spirit found ex- 
pression in almost identical words. Modern 
equipment, which would have seemed magi- 
cal to Perry and his men, make it possible 
to flash the message by wireless across the 
open sea. Whether our men be attacked 
from the sky, from the sea, or by the dangers 
lurking beneath it, the spirit of the Navy re- 
mains the same. 

Early in the war, before American sea- 
men had gained the familiarity with sub- 
marines and their methods which was to 
breed contempt, a vicious attack was made 
upon the steamship Luckenbach. The 
steamer carried an armed guard in charge of 
1 20 



VIA WIRELESS 

two guns mounted fore and aft. The under- 
sea craft was sighted at seven-thirty one 
bright morning, moving rapidly on the sur- 
face at some distance. Without the slight- 
est warning, she trained her guns on the 
Luckenbach and opened fire. From the first 
the steamer was clearly outclassed. 

A terrific bombardment followed. In less 
than two hours the German fired 225 shots 
from her several guns. With her towering 
sides, superstructure, and funnels, the 
American was as easy to hit as the proverbial 
barn door. As a matter of record, however, 
the submarine, gunners made only nine clean 
hits. The armed guard replied with 202 
rounds. 

The first well directed shell from the Ger- 
man set the Luckenbach on fire, injuring sev- 
eral of her crew. Hopeless as the engage- 
ment seem.ed the discipline on the Lucken- 
bach never relaxed. The fire alarm brought 
the crew to their stations and the situation 
was soon well in hand. A torpedo from the 
submarine might send the steamer to the 
bottom at any moment, but the crew fought 
one problem at a time. The fire-fighters 
121 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

rushed below, and left the hold only when 
that particular danger was over. 

Although the hits were few and far be- 
tween, the Germans made several very lucky 
shots. The next effective shell pierced the 
engine-room, wounding the engineers and 
putting the engines out of commission. The 
submarine rapidly approached the helpless 
vessel, increasing her fire. From the Luck- 
enhach a steady fire was still directed at the 
U-boat, while her wireless flashed a call for 
help in all directions. 

Still another shot burst an important 
steam-pipe, wounding a mess-boy and a fire- 
man, and still further crippling the steamer. 
As the U-boat closed in, she improved her 
aim and one of her shells struck the after 
gun of the Luckenhach, completely disabling 
it. The defense was continued by the one 
remaining gun. At this critical moment 
the Luckenhach' s wireless succeeded in pick- 
ing up a destroyer in the neighborhood, 
which was instantly headed full speed to her 
assistance. 

In the exchange of wireless messages be- 
tween the Luckenhach and the destroyer, we 

122 



VIA WIRELESS 

find the ancient spirit of the Navy, which 
would have dehghted Perry or Farragut. 

''How quickly can you get here?" was 
flashed from the Luckenhach. 

"Two hours," was the destroyer's answer. 

A world of meaning was compressed in 
the Luckenbadi s laconic reply : 

"Too late. Look for boats." 

The destroyer, rushing forward at forced 
draught, seemed helpless to avert the 
tragedy. Knowing that any shot from the 
German might put the Luckenhach out of 
commission, the destroyer sent a brief mes- 
sage of encouragement. Doubtless some 
memory of Perry's famous order was in her 
Captain's mind when he despatched the 
words : 

"Don't surrender." 

The LuckenhacKs reply was almost in- 
stantaneous : 

"Never." 

With her single gun the Luckenhach still 
continued to keep the submarine at bay. Of 
the 202 shots fired by the Luckenhach, the 
forward gun sent 167. At the end of an 
hour the crew of the steamship began to 
123 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

strain their eyes for some sight of the de- 
stroyer. Minute by minute passed as the 
submarine, now rapidly closing in, shortened 
her range. Half of the second hour had 
passed when the lookout reported a faint 
trail of smoke on the horizon, which gradu- 
ally darkened and spread out. It was the 
destroyer, coming up at better than thirty 
knots an hour. She arrived alongside punc- 
tually at two-thirty, on time to the minute 
of her two-hour schedule. The submarine 
had disappeared. A few hours later, with 
her engines repaired, the Luckenbach under 
convoy of the destroyer reached port safely. 



124 



XXI 

A SUCCESS AND A FAILURE 

IT would be interesting to know whether 
Chief Boatswain's Mate John Macken- 
zie of the Naval Reserve ever read Victor 
Hugo's description of the loosened cannon 
that threatened the French corvette Clay- 
more in his famous novel, ''Ninety-Three." 
In all fiction there are few scenes so dra- 
matic, and the bravery of the French gunner 
who risks his life to keep the bronze gun 
from wrecking the ship has been universally 
admired. The parallel between the feats of 
the French gunner and, of the American 
sailor mentioned is remarkable. In both 
cases a storm was raging, and the ships and 
their crews were endangered; but, while the 
Frenchman struggled with a cannon, the 
American wrestled with a heavy bomb which 
might explode at any moment. If the 
125 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

American boy was trying to imitate the 
French hero, his act was an extremely dan- 
gerous form of plagiarism. 

The bomb was loosened by a curious acci- 
dent. The United States steamship Remlik 
was making heavy weather in a severe gale, 
when her plunging caused the breaking of a 
box or crate holding a depth bomb. The 
bomb had been lashed on the after part of 
the deck in what was considered an out-of- 
the-way spot. The plunge that broke the 
box tossed the broken wood overboard, while 
the bomb was rolled in the opposite direction. 
To the consternation of the crew, it went 
bouncing about the deck, threatening to blow 
the ship to pieces. 

There have been many cases of men at 
such a moment rushing forward, picking up 
explosives, and throwing them overboard, 
at imminent peril to their lives. This depth 
bomb, however, weighed several hundred 
pounds. No one could lift it, and the rolling 
of the ship made it impossible for the men 
to lay hold of it. To increase the excite- 
ment, some one noticed that the pin had 
come out, and shouted out this terrifying 
126 



A^k^ 




(C) Brown and Dawsou. 



With All Flags Set 



A SUCCESS AND A FAILURE 

news. The crew, though reaHzing that the 
next moment might be their last, failed to 
form any concerted plan of action. 

At this highly critical moment Macken- 
zie rushed forward and grappled with the 
bomb. He flung his body against it, exert- 
ing all his strength to stop its plunge; but 
the bomb was much too heavy for him. He 
repeated the attempt again and a third time. 
Each time he almost succeeded in getting his 
arms around it, but it tore itself away from 
him. On the third attempt the weight of the 
metal almost crushed him in its plunge. He 
realized that the hundreds of pounds of ex- 
plosives in his arms might go off at any mo- 
ment, and that the charge had been calcu- 
lated to destroy an entire ship at a blow. 

At the fourth attempt Mackenzie made a 
supreme effort, secured a firm grip on the 
bomb, and heaved it upright till it stood on its 
flattened end. Having won this advantage, 
he calmly sat on the bomb and held it down 
until assistance came. The members of the 
crew, who had apparently been fascinated by 
the danger of the moment, now rushed for- 
ward. Ropes were hastily brought, and the 
129 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

depth bomb was safel}^ lashed in place. All 
danger was at an end. 

In recognition of this unique feat, Secre- 
tary- of the Navy Daniels has awarded a 
Medal of Honor to Mackenzie and a gratuity 
of $ioo. 

The commanding officer of the Remlik, in 
his report recommending that the Medal of 
Honor be conferred on Mackenzie, says : 

"Mackenzie, in acting as he did, exposed 
his life, and prevented a serious accident to 
the ship and probable loss of the ship and 
entire crew. Had this depth charge ex- 
ploded on the quarter-deck, with the sea and 
wind that existed at the time, there is no 
doubt that the ship would have been lost." 

Less fortunate was a member of a gun 
crew on a merchant-ship who found himself 
in a similar situation. The batteries aboard 
these ships are, as a rule, hastily installed, 
and occupy very exposed positions. The 
ships were not constructed with any idea of 
mounting guns on their decks, much less the 
five- or six-inch guns necessary to pierce the 
armor of the modern super-submarine. It 
is only when some unusual strain is brought 
130 



A SUCCESS AND A FAILURE 

to bear on the guns that their inherent weak- 
ness is discovered. 

In this instance the vessel had encountered 
a full gale at sea, which tested every joint of 
her frame. A great wave breaking over her 
deck had snapped off a stanchion. The life- 
boats were smashed or swept away, as were 
all movable objects above-decks. Every- 
thing that foresight could do to secure the 
guns had been done, and an alert watch ob- 
served them anxiously. After several 
hours of this terrific bombardment, the lash- 
ings of one of the guns suddenly snapped, 
and the great mass of steel was loosened. 

As long as the ship continued to roll mod- 
erately, the weight of the gun kept it in 
place; but a violent swing might at any mo- 
ment cause it to shift its position. In such 
a case, anything might happen in the twink- 
ling of an eye. If the gun were overturned, 
its delicate mechanism would be broken be- 
yond hope of repair, at sea at least, while the 
high waves might easily roll it overboard. 
For several anxious moments the gun slipped 
from side to side, covered with a smother 
of sea-foam. 

131 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

In a momentary lull, one of the gun crew 
caught up a rope and, watching for his 
chance, sprang upon the gun. He was 
obliged to contend with two dangers that 
made his position particularly perilous. The 
gun might roll upon him, crushing him be- 
fore he could dodge it, or the waves might 
sweep him from his position. There was a 
desperate struggle for several anxious min- 
utes. The gunner had succeeded in fasten- 
ing one end of the rope about the cannon, 
when a surge of water loosened his hold and 
swept him overboard. No life-boat could 
live in such a sea, and from the ship's sides 
nothing could be seen of the unfortunate gun- 
ner; but, undeterred by the tragedy, other 
seamen rushed forward, and the gun was 
finally secured and rode out the storm in 
safety. 



132 



XXII 
STANDING BY THE SHIP 

MANY torpedoed ships have been saved 
from sinking, against all the proba- 
bilities, by the alertness of their crews. 
According to the laws of gravitation the Ar- 
menia should have gone down within a few 
minutes after. being struck. The attack oc- 
curred at 12.40 A. M., February 19, 1918, 
an hour when the guard might be found 
somewhat relaxed. 

The torpedo struck the Armenia at an an- 
gle on the starboard quarter. The subma- 
rine was completely hidden in the darkness, 
and the first warning came from the lookout, 
E. M. Wright, a seaman of the second class 
connected with the armed guard. The tor- 
pedo was but forty yards off when sighted, 
and a few seconds intervened before she 
struck. There was, of course, no time to 
133 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

alter the course of the vessel or to manoeuver 
to avoid the blow. 

The wreckage was appalling. The tor- 
pedo passed completely through the ship's 
side, bending it far in, and leaving a hole 
through which the sea poured at a terrifying 
rate. So great was the force of the impact 
that the steel deck was buckled up to a height 
of three feet. The wooden bulkheads were 
set on fire. 

Chief Boatswain Mate S. Hamiab, com- 
manding the gun crew, and the lookout, who 
sighted the torpedo, were thrown into the 
air by the explosion, and all of the men were 
badly knocked about. When the crew got 
to their feet and ran to their stations, they 
found the gun platform a mass of wreckage. 
No defense could be made, so complete was 
the demolition, and all hands were mustered 
to save the ship. 

The ship's discipline proved all that could 
be desired. Although in imminent danger, 
since the ship might take her final plunge at 
any moment, the seamen, responding will- 
ingly to orders, rushed below-decks. The 
collision mats were brought out, and, work- 
134 



STANDING BY THE SHIP 

ing coolly, the men succeeded in placing them 
in position and stopping the inrush of water. 
Standing up to their waists in water, which 
was rapidly rising, the work was completed. 

Meanwhile, the ship was afire in several 
places. So disorganized was the ship's pip- 
ing that it was found impossible to make use 
of the regular fire hose. There was not a 
moment to lose, and the seamen descended 
to the burning hold and put out the fire with 
their hands. 

Three American seamen, enlisted men, 
had an even closer call aboard a British 
merchant-ship, and later were commended 
by our naval authorities for their part in 
saving her. The merchantman was struck 
by a torpedo, September i, 191 7, and filled 
rapidly. All hope seemed at an end, and 
the ship's company was ordered to take to 
the boats. Two of the American seamen, 
Stephan J. Downy and F. Kellard Goulach, 
got away safely in separate boats. A third 
American, Alfred Allard, stayed on the ship, 
with her Captain. 

As long as the ship remained afloat the 
Captain refused to leave her. The crew, 
135 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

meanwhile, rowed away to a safe distance. 
The last plunge of a large ship, as every sea- 
man knows, is likely to carry down all on 
board. The suction caused by the sinking 
hull draws down all objects in this terrify- 
ing vortex, and the strongest swimmer is 
powerless against it. 

Left alone on the ship, the Captain and 
Allard watched the ship slowly settle. The 
crew, having retreated to a safe distance, 
rested on the oars and waited for the final 
plunge. The three American seamen mean- 
while proved invaluable in keeping the boats 
in touch with the merchant-ship by signal- 
ing. Allard, standing on the bridge beside 
the Captain, directed Downy and Goulach, 
by wigwagging, the distance they were to 
keep from the ship, and kept them informed 
of her condition. 

Several hours later the Captain began to 
hope that his ship might still be saved. An 
examination of the water in the hold decided 
him to make the effort. Allard was directed 
to call in the boats and the crew by his sig- 
nals, and once aboard all hands set to work. 
The ship was finally beached in safety. 
136 



XXIII 
WHEN THE S.S. ''LINCOLN" SANK 

THE crucial test of the naval drills and 
preparations for a surprise attack came 
with the sinking of the transport Lincoln. 
There were 715 men all told aboard the Lin- 
coln, while her great size, and the height of 
her boat-decks above the water, made it dif- 
ficult to execute quickly the final orders. 
She had been struck almost simultaneously 
by two torpedoes, sinking within a few min- 
utes. The noise of escaping steam made it 
impossible to give verbal order throughout 
the length of the great vessel, and the com- 
plicated work of abandoning ship had to be 
carried out by signals. 

Working under the most trying condi- 
tions, the crew went about its duties coolly 
and intelligently. Several men had been 
killed and many wounded by the explosions, 
and there were a number of sick and 
137 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

wounded returning from France, including 
two paralyzed men. Nevertheless the en- 
tire ship's company, with provisions, was 
transferred to life-boats and life-rafts, and 
the flotilla kept under perfect discipline for 
hours until picked up. Three officers and 
twenty-three men lost their lives. 

The scenes on board the Lincoln and in 
the boats have been admirably described in 
the official report prepared by Commander 
Percy W. Foote, the commanding officer of 
the transport. The matter-of-fact way in 
which the most thrilling acts are recorded 
illustrates the attitude of the men of the 
Navy toward their own exploits. 

"Three torpedoes were sighted approach- 
ing the ship on the port side at a distance of 
from three to four hundred yards away," 
says Commander Foote's report. "Efforts 
were made to turn the ship to avoid the tor- 
pedoes, but there was not sufficient time to 
do so, and two torpedoes struck together 
practically in the same place, about 120 feet 
from the bow, and one torpedo struck about 
120 feet from the stern. The call to battle 
stations was instantly sounded when the tor- 
138 



WHEN THE S.S. "LINCOLN" SANK 

pedoes were sighted, and every one went 
quickly, but quietly, to his proper post. 

"Preparations were made for launching 
the boats and life-rafts, and the guns were 
manned and made ready for fire. Inspec- 
tions were made below-decks, and it was 
found that the bulkheads were holding the 
water in the forward hold, but aft the en- 
gine-room bulkhead was ruptured, and the 
water entered the engine-room. There was 
plenty of time, however, for the men to 
escape from the engine- and fire-rooms, and 
no casualties occurred therein. Seven men 
at work in the" forward end of the ship were 
killed by the force of the explosion or the 
inrush of the water. 

"Fifteen minutes after the ship was 
struck, it appeared quite evident that she 
would sink. The boats and rafts were 
placed in the water, and the order was given 
all hands to abandon ship." 

Several of the officers and the gun crews, 
however, still remained on the sinking ship. 
It was found later that two men stayed too 
long, and were lost when the ship went down. 
The danger was obvious to all, but the men 
139 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

stood calmly at their posts, awaiting orders. 
A few minutes later fire was opened from 
the bow gun in the general direction in which 
it was thought the submarine might lie, on 
the chance of preventing another attack and 
to cover the retreat of the open boats. The 
personal narrative continues : 

"Four or five minutes before the ship 
finally sank, half the vessel being then under 
water, the chief master-at-arms reported 
that his inspection below-decks showed all 
hands to be out of the ship. The order was 
then given for every one, including the gun 
crews, to leave the ship; and the master-at- 
arms and> I then went into the water and 
swam to a life-raft. 

''Due to the difTficulties which generally 
exist when boats are filled with people and 
lowered quickly in emergency, it had been 
previously arranged for every one to go in 
the water and get on the rafts. Only five 
men and an officer were assigned to the boats 
to lower them; the boats then to go among 
the life-rafts and pick up the people. This 
proved to be a very satisfactory arrange- 
ment, as the boats were lowered and got clear 
140 



WHEN THE S.S. 'LINCOLN" SANK 

of the ship without difficulty. One boat, 
however, was loaded with the sick before 
lowering; and all the sick, including the two 
paralyzed soldiers, were saved." 

The scene is probably unique in the his- 
tory of the Navy. There survived over 
seven hundred men, some five hundred in 
the open boats and two hundred on the life- 
rafts, crowding these frail crafts to their 
capacity. The sea was rough, and the near- 
est land remote. The report continues : 

"After the ship sank the work of loading 
the boats to their capacity and securing the 
rafts together was begun, and while this 
work was under way, about half an hour 
after the ship sank, the submarine appeared, 
and came near the boats and rafts. The 
submarine first took one of the sailors. Sea- 
man Anderson, on board, and then a little 
later took one of the officers, Lieutenant 
Isaaca, after which it returned the seaman to 
the boat. 

"Another instance which illustrated the 

coolness of the young American boys who 

composed the crew of the ship occurred when 

the submarine was cruising among the boats. 

141 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

We naturally thought of the possibility of 
the submarine firing on the boats, and an of- 
ficer on the submarine was seen to go to the 
muzzle of one of the guns and, as we thought 
at that time, remove the covering prepara- 
tory to firing. When this was observed, one 
of the men in the boat said: 'Good night! 
Here comes the fireworks.' But the sub- 
marine did not fire, and all the survivors in 
the boats escaped unharmed. 

"The submarine remained in the vicinity 
of the boats for about an hour and a half. It 
returned in the afternoon about two o'clock, 
remained near at hand for about an hour, 
and then left the vicinity and did not re- 
appear. 

"The work of collecting the boats and 
rafts together was continued, and by dark we 
had the rafts tied together and the boats se- 
cured to the rafts and to each other; the 
boats being loaded practically to their carry- 
ing capacity, there being about five hundred 
men in the boats and about two hundred on 
the rafts. 

"Lighted lanterns were hoisted on the oars 
in the boats, and Coston flare-lights were 
142 



WHEN THE. S.S. "LINCOLN" SANK 

turned at frequent intervals. Watches were 
set, and those not on watch were told to go 
to sleep. Despite the hurry of departure, 
the boats and rafts had been amply provi- 
sioned with food and water. Throughout 
the night the stores remained untouched. It 
was anticipated that many days might be 
spent in the boats, and the supplies were 
saved against a time of absolute need. The 
spirit of the men throughout the long night 
was admirable. Chief Petty Officer Oulette 
brought ashore the following incident : 

" 'There were a number of officers with 
the men on the raft,' he writes, 'among whom 
was the chaplain, and Oulette told me that 
the chaplain very properly said prayers for 
the rescue of the men. But Oulette feared 
the men would become somewhat despon- 
dent, so he decided to tell some jokes and 
sing a song, and the song he sang was, 
"Where Do We Go from Here?" ' 

"At about 1 1 p. M.^ when it was quite dark, 
a blinking white light was sighted, and very 
soon it was found that one of the American 
destroyers had arrived to our rescue. A 
rousing cheer was given by the men, and the 
143 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

work of embarking on board the destroyer 
was begun. About an hour afterward an- 
other destroyer arrived, and by 2 A. m. all the 
survivors were embarked aboard the de- 
stroyers. After waiting till daylight, when 
a final search was made for any persons who 
might still be adrift, the return trip to France 
was begun, where we arrived in due course 
of time, and very shortly afterward em- 
barked for America on another ship." 



144 



XXIV 
GUARDING THE TRANSPORTS 

THE question is often asked, — and prob- 
ably nowhere oftener than in Germany, 
— how do the transports elude the subma- 
rines? No secret is made of the methods 
of defense. Either the transport depends 
upon its fleetness, or it is so heavily con- 
voyed that the most determined efforts of 
the Germans is of no avail. 

One of the most desperate attempts to 
''get" a heavily laden American troop-ship 
occurred in the Bay of Biscay, when no less 
than eight German submarines lay in wait 
for our soldiers. On the previous eastward 
voyages the transport had sailed without 
convoy, and had been met on approaching 
the other side by two destroyers. It was be- 
lieved that she was especially signaled out for 
attack, however, and Rear-Admiral Wilson, 
in command of the destroyer flotilla of the 
147 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

American Navy operating in French waters, 
sent out four of his destroyers as a precau- 
tion. 

The transport, with thousands of Amer- 
ican soldiers aboard, was nearing the French 
coast at dawn one morning, when two Ger- 
man submarines were sighted just ahead. 
A few moments later two more U-boats ap- 
peared off the starboard side; shortly after 
two more just ahead, and two more a little 
distance away on the beam. The German 
attack had evidently been planned in detail. 
The fleet, comprising eight submarines in all, 
now drew together on the starboard side, 
which was the side away from that on which 
the destroyers usually sailed. It was evi- 
dently their intention to sight the two de- 
stroyers and, of course, sink the transport. 

Several torpedoes were soon fired at the 
transport, but she managed to elude them by 
steering at top speed in a series of rapid zig- 
zags. The naval crew of the transport 
opened with a shot from the six-inch forward 
gun on the starboard side. The first shot hit 
the conning-tower of one of the U-boats. A 
second shot a few seconds later struck the 
148 



GUARDING THE TRANSPORTS 

same submarine amidships, sinking her with 
all her crew. The destroyers meanwhile 
had reached the active side of the transport 
and engaged the rest of the fleet. While the 
U-boats were in the act of shooting torpedoes 
at the Americans, a destroyer with several 
well planted shots put another submarine 
quickly out of commission, finally sending 
her down. 

By this time the commander of the fleet 
of submarines was aware of the fact that 
four destroyers instead of two were arrayed 
against him, and, signaling to the other 
boats, he at once submerged. As the last 
boat disappeared a shot from one of the de- 
stroyers struck her upper works and, it is 
believed, sank her. All four of the destroy- 
ers were above the points where the sub- 
marines had submerged, and the fight was 
continued by dropping a series of powerful 
depth bombs. Judging from the agitation 
of the sea following the explosion, the naval 
officers feel confident that they accounted for 
two more of the U-boats. 

Of the eight submarines making the at- 
tack, two were unmistakably sunk by shell 
149 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

fire from the transport and the destroyers, 
and three others are believed to have been 
sunk by depth bombs, while three got away 
clear. A naval officer who witnessed the 
battle reported that he considered it the most 
determined attempt the Germans had made 
to sink a transport on her east-bound trip. 
The transport — which was one of the largest 
and fleetest in the service — proceeded in 
safety to her French port of destination. 

On the transport's last previous east- 
bound trip, two German submarines had 
come to the surface so near her starboard 
quarter that they could not find room to 
manoeuver into position to fire their torpe- 
does. The distance was so short that it also 
served to protect the Germans, since the de- 
stroyers were afraid to drop their depth 
bombs for fear of injuring the hull or the 
propellers of the transport. 

The marvelous record of our transports in 
safely transporting a great army through the 
submarine-infested waters does not depend 
upon chance or good luck. 



150 



PART III 
ON AIR-SCOUT DUTY 



XXV 
FIRST TO FLY 

A DETACHMENT of naval airmen 
were the first Americans to arrive in 
France and enter active service against the 
enemy. It is a matter of pride in the Navy 
that these men reached foreign soil three 
weeks before the first transport arrived 
bringing the army forces. The airmen had 
been trained for active service on this side of 
the Atlantic, and were quickly hurried to the 
front. Several of the men in this first de- 
tachment have since lost their lives in flight 
work. The first, Louis Reindardt, a seaman 
of the second class, enlisted at Norfolk in 
1916. The second of the airmen to lose his 
life was George Herbert Manly. 

More various uses have been found for 
the aircraft in connection with naval opera- 
tions than any other type of fighting ma- 
153 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

chine. At the opening of the war naval 
aeronautics was in its infancy. To-day the 
aircraft department is one of the main de- 
pendencies of the fleets. Their activities 
have been classified in some seventeen dis- 
tinct divisions. The average man has little 
conception of the extent of their actual oper- 
ations. 

A variety of types of seaplanes and dirigi- 
bles are effectively employed in making 
direct attacks upon ships and submarines at 
sea, using bombs, torpedoes, and guns. The 
same craft are also employed in bombing 
the enemy's bases and stations. Naval ex- 
perts of a generation since did not anticipate 
that naval craft would soon actually fly over 
great stretches of sea, and even over moun- 
tains, and inflict serious damage. To-day 
such raids are commonplace. 

A modern armada is accompanied by a 
fleet of aircraft, which engages the aircraft 
of the enemy. It employs aeroplanes and 
seaplanes, with a flying radius of several 
hundreds of miles, which may be launched 
directly from the decks of ships, or may be 
lowered alongside and rise from the surface 
154 



FIRST TO FLY 

of the water. Pictures of the great sea- 
plane carriers, with half a dozen or more 
large aeroplanes on their decks, are of course 
familiar. The aircraft, on returning, land 
on the surface of the water, and are re- 
trieved by being hoisted to their stations. 

A variety of aircraft serve as the eyes and 
scouts for the sea fleets. Trained observers 
go aloft to high altitudes in dirigibles, sea- 
planes, and kite balloons, and by means of 
direct telephone wires or by wireless keep 
their bases informed of the position of the 
enemy. The same types of machine are em- 
ployed to protect ships at sea or in port 
against attacks from hostile submarines or 
battleships. 

The defense of naval bases from both 
naval and aerial attacks is largely dependent 
at present upon aircraft. Everything that 
flies is used in such work. The dirigible has 
been superseded for raiding purposes by the 
aeroplane. We hear no more of Zeppelin 
raids, for the huge craft make too obvious a 
target for aeroplane attack. The dirigible 
still plays an important role, nevertheless, in 
patrolling coasts, searching for submarine 
155 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

bases, spying upon suspicious ships, and for 
convoying fleets at sea. 

The speed of the seaplane is also depended 
upon to prevent hostile aircraft from locat- 
ing the positions of fleets and ascertaining 
the number and the nature of the ships that 
compose it. By keeping hostile aircraft at 
a distance, they also prevent the enemy from 
getting the range of naval bases, magazines, 
and other stations. Many operations are 
also carried over land and sea to divert the 
attention and mislead the enemy while 
strategical operations are being carried out. 

All types of aircraft are also employed to 
cooperate with submarines and guide them 
in their attacks on enemy fleets and bases. 
In many scouting trips they locate the pres- 
ence of mine fields and keep their fleets in- 
formed of their position. Much valuable 
time is saved, again, in planting mines by 
the assistance of the air squadrons. In at- 
tacking hostile ships and directing gun fire 
the spotting of aircraft is invaluable. 

It often happens that messages cannot be 
transmitted, even by wireless, between ships 
widely separated without giving the enemy a 
156 



FIRST TO FLY 

clue as to the ship's position. The aircraft 
serve as despatch-bearers in carrying mes- 
sages, at a rate of a hundred miles an hour 
or more, throughout a radius of hundreds of 
miles. 



157 



XXVI 
EARLY EXPLOITS 

THE American Navy was the first to rec- 
ognize the possibiHties of aircraft and 
to organize an aviation section. The officers 
who ventured aloft in many experimental 
flights faced a hazard unique in naval his- 
tory. To their daring and ingenuity is due 
much of the development of the air service 
at sea, which other nations have been quick 
to utilize. In any record of the naval heroes 
of to-day the exploits of these men, who 
dared so much for the advancement of their 
service, deserve to be remembered. 

The first naval appropriation for aero- 
nautics in history was made by Congress in 
191 1. In view of the war budget a few 
years later counted by billions, it is inter- 
esting to recall that the first appropriation 
was $25,000. The Navy first appointed 
three officers to visit the aeroplane factories 
158 



EARLY EXPLOITS 

to receive instructions in flying. At that 
date the seaplane was unknown, and aero- 
planes had not yet been equipped with pon- 
toons to support them on the water. Some 
very daring experiments were carried on by 
these officers in attempting to start aero- 
planes by a cable launching device, which was 
the nucleus of the catapult of later years. 

Considering the difficulties and dangers of 
this experimental work, the progress was re- 
markable. From April, 191 1, to August, 
1912, some 593 flights were made by the in- 
struction officers. The United States Navy 
at this period owned an air fleet consisting of 
three aeroplanes. In the winter of 191 1 the 
aviation camp was transferred to San Diego, 
California; later it was established at An- 
napolis. 

The first aerial reconnaissance ever made 
by a naval officer of rank was flown May 2, 
19 1 2, under the direction of Rear-Admiral 
Bradley A. Fiske, then commanding the Sec- 
ond Squadron of the Atlantic Fleet. The 
aeroplane in this historic flight flew to and 
landed alongside the U. S. S. Georgia, the 
flagship anchored at Salem harbor. Later 
159 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

Rear-Admiral Fiske flew in this machine. 
A sea flight was made a few weeks later 
from the Aero Station near Annapolis to the 
battle-ship Louisiana at an altitude of four 
hundred feet, which aroused world-wide at- 
tention. In the same year a world's record 
was established in flying over Chesapeake 
Bay, when the officer remained aloft for six 
hours and ten minutes. Some Interesting 
experiments were also made in communicat- 
ing by wireless electricity between an aero- 
plane aloft and a battle-ship. The aero- 
plane had now passed the experimental stage 
and was recognized as one of the arms of the 
fleet. 

The United States Navy was also the first 
in history to fly under war conditions. 
When the mobilization was ordered to pro- 
ceed to Mexican waters in the summer of 
1914, it found the Navy prepared. The or- 
ganization of the aero division is shown by 
the promptness with which it was able to act. 
Orders were received at the Pensacola sta- 
tion at noon on Sunday, April 19, for the 
First Aeroplane Section to embark on the 
Birmingham. Within six hours the avail- 
160 



EARLY EXPLOITS 

able fleet of six aeroplanes, with all neces- 
sary parts required for active service, two 
hangar tents, and camp equipment for three 
officers and ten men of the section were on 
the dock. The Second Aeronautical Section 
was no less prompt in embarking on the Mis- 
sissippi. 

When the Mississippi, with the Second 
Aeroplane Section on board, reached Vera 
Cruz on April 25, an aeroplane was in the air 
five minutes after she dropped anchor. On 
every day following flights were made; some- 
times the aeroplanes went aloft several times 
a day. The navy aeroplanes scouted along 
the outposts and far beyond the lines, pre- 
paring maps of the country and observing 
the position of the Mexican forces. 

For some time America held the distinc- 
tion of having not only the first but the most 
highly developed aeronautical section of any 
navy in the world. With the progress of the 
war America fell behind and was soon out- 
classed. Her activities to-day may enable 
her to regain her position of the first naval 
air force. 



161 



XXVII 
AN AIR BATTLE 

THERE is no better raw material in the 
world for the making of heroes than is 
to be found in America. Ensign Stephen 
Potter, U. S. N. R., was enrolled as a second- 
class seaman in the Naval Flying Corps, on 
September 26, 19 17, and was made an ensign 
November 2 of the same year. On Novem- 
ber 12 he was ordered to France, and was 
sent to England on January 18, 19 18, for 
active service. The dates are eloquent, indi- 
cating as they do how quickly the average 
American youth may be transformed into a 
skilful flyer. 

Within six weeks of his enrolment Potter 
had acquired an experience in this difficult 
and dangerous service that made it possible 
for him to go to France, and in a little more 
than a month he saw actual air service at the 
front. There are doubtless thousands of 
162 



^ ""fWW 



> 




AN AIR BATTLE 

similar cases, but Potter has been singled 
out by the Government because of his bril- 
liant subsequent record and the stirring air 
battle in which he met his death. 

The records show that Potter had been fly- 
ing in actual service scarcely six weeks when 
he met a German seaplane in Heligoland 
Bight and in a brilliant air fight shot it down. 
His last battle occurred April 25 over the 
North Sea. He was serving at the time as 
second pilot to a British Royal Air Force 
captain. While out on scout duty, he was 
overtaken by a formidable German fleet of 
seven single-seaters, and found himself hope- 
lessly outclassed ; but he sold his life dearly. 

Potter's last air battle is one of the most 
daring in the history of air conflicts. The 
report of the engagement that follows, re- 
ceived from the London representative of 
the Committee on Public Information, needs 
no elaboration. 

Potter left a North Sea station in a British 
seaplane, and steered due east until six miles 
W. S. W. north of Hinder light. Another 
plane accompanied Potter, keeping a posi- 
tion to starboard throughout the action. 
165 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

Two enemy planes were sighted to port, 
heading toward them, flying low. Both 
British planes dived about a hundred yards 
apart, closing upon the nearest German. 

Fire opened from both at close range. 

Potter's companion had emptied one drum 
from the forward cockpit when the gun 
jammed. Two more hostile planes then ap- 
peared overhead, attacking vigorously. 
Both Britons turned to the west, pursuing 
one of the lower enemy, who was soon lost 
to view. Three others passed astern, fol- 
lowed at a sharp angle. Potter was close 
above his companion, and dove to within a 
hundred feet of the water. 

Both machines flattened out, and Potter's 
companion, being faster, throttled down un- 
til Potter came abreast. They ran west- 
ward in this formation at full speed for sev- 
eral minutes, under continuous volleys from 
the rear. 

Four more enemy machines now appeared 
in V formation. Of the seven Germans in 
action, four attacked Potter, and the others 
engaged his companion. Potter fell behind 
and began to zigzag. He first veered 
i66 



AN AIR BATTLE 

slightly to starboard, then turned at right 
angles to port. 

Again his companion throttled down to 
let him catch up, and began climbing to re- 
duce headway. Potter dodged again, but 
was then broadside to all enemy machines, 
and under their fire only fifty feet from the 
water. His companion, flying above saw. 
Potter's machine burst into flames, come 
down part of the way under control, then 
crash on the port wing-tip. 

Potter was last seen on the surface amid 
flames that turned suddenly to a huge cloud 
of smoke. 

Two of the enemy circled over the spot, 
then joined the other five. When the pall 
had cleared, not even wreckage was visible. 

The commanding officer of the station 
from which Potter went aloft on his last 
flight added the following comment to the of- 
ficial report of the air battle : 

"Potter always displayed the greatest eag- 
erness to fly at all times. On the long re- 
connaissance in which he shot down the Ger- 
man aeroplane he showed courage and cool- 
ness. He was very popular at this station." 
167 



XXVIII 
A SEAPLANE WRECK 

WITH the appearance of the seaplane 
in our Navy has come a new test of 
courage. The pilot and observer aboard 
these frail aircraft in their long scouting 
trips at sea face a unique danger. In case 
of accident on a surface craft the life-boats 
give the sailor a fighting chance of escape. 
The worst catastrophe to ordinary craft, too, 
falls less swiftly. The airman finds gravity 
a very exacting master. Let his engine 
stall or any one of a hundred possible acci- 
dents befall his delicate craft with its com- 
plicated machinery, and his descent is meas- 
ured by seconds only. Even if he carry 
wireless equipment, there is likely to be little 
chance to use it to summon help, and the air- 
craft carries no life-boats for navigating 
either air or water. 

After a rapid volplane to the surface the 
aviator's plight is likely to be serious. The 
i68 



A SEAPLANE WRECK 

fragile pontoons on which his aircraft rests 
offer very slight support. His aeroplane is 
in no sense seaworthy, and he is at the mercy 
of every wave. He is without oars or other 
means of propulsion, and must lie chained to 
his curious wreck. The wreck of the sea- 
plane carrying Ensign E. A. Stone, U. S. 
Naval Reserve, is unique in naval history. 
Forced to descend to the surface of the water 
while far out at sea. Stone and his companion 
floated for eighty hours and lived out a 
severe storm before relief arrived. 

The American sailor acting as a pilot of a 
British seaplane, with Sub-Lieutenant Eric 
Moore of the Royal Naval Air Service, had 
started out to convoy patrols from a British 
port. Land was far out of sight when the 
periscope of a German submarine was 
sighted, and the aircraft at once started in 
pursuit. It was unsuccessful in picking up 
the German, and meanwhile lost its way. 
Some two and a half hours later the engine 
dropped dead, and the airmen were forced to 
descend to the surface of a rough sea. The 
situation in which the men found themselves 
is described in Stone's own words: 
169 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

"We had no kite or radio to call for assist- 
ance, so we released our two carrier-pigeons. 
We tied a message with our position and the 
word sinking on each. The first bird, a blue- 
barred one, flew straight oflf and reached 
home. But the other, which was white 
checked, lit on our machine and would not 
budge until Moore threw a navigation clock 
at him, which probably upset him so that he 
failed us." 

The sea rose, meanwhile, until the waves 
broke the frail wings of the aeroplane, caus- 
ing them to sink. It soon became clear that 
the machine was being slowly but steadily 
drawn down by the stern, thus turning her 
over. To lessen the impact of the waves, 
the airmen tore away the covering of the 
wings, but she continued to go down. The 
aeroplane finally rose perpendicularly in the 
air, and the men were obliged to climb over 
her nose and cling to the under side of the 
pontoons. Since these consisted merely of 
light frames covered with thin plate metal, 
their buoyancy was not great. Stories of 
suffering from hunger at sea are common, 
170 



A SEAPLANE WRECK 

but the experience of the wrecked airmen in 
this respect is peculiarly trying. Ensign 
Stone says, in writing of these hours : 

"Our emergency ration had been in the 
observer's seat at the back, but we had been 
so busy in trying to repair the motor and 
save ourselves from turning over that we 
didn't remember this until too late. When 
I crawled aft for food, Moore saw that I was 
only helping the machine to capsize. He 
yelled to me to come back, and I did, just in 
time to save myself from being carried down 
with the tail and drowned. 

"From then on, for nearly four days, until 
picked up by a trawler, we were continually 
soaked and lashed by seas, and with nothing 
to eat or drink. We had nothing to cling 
to, and so, to keep from being washed over- 
board, we got upon the same pontoon and 
hugged our arms around each other's bodies 
for the whole time. 

"We suffered from thirst. I had a crav- 
ing for canned peaches. Twice a drizzle 
came on, wetting the pontoon. We turned 
on our stomachs and lapped up the moisture, 
171 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

but the paint came off, with the salt, and 
nauseated us. 

''Our limbs grew numb. From time to 
time the wreckage from torpedoed ships 
would pass. Once two biscuit tins came 
near enough to swim for ; but by then, in our 
weakened state, we knew that we would 
drown if we tried to get them. We did 
haul in a tin and break it open. It was filled 
with tobacco." 

The shipwrecked sailor in an open boat or 
even on a raft suffers less than men aboard 
a wrecked seaplane. The airmen could not 
lie down or stretch themselves, and the effort 
of holding to the wreck in the rough seas 
was very exhausting. They had no mast on 
which to raise a flag, or lights to attract the 
attention of passing boats. Several ships 
passed within a comparatively short distance 
without sighting the low-lying wreck of the 
aircraft. These airmen were doubtless the 
first shipwrecked seamen in the history of 
the seas to sight an aeroplane. Let the air 
pilot tell the experience in his own words : 

"On Monday afternoon a seaplane came 
from the west. It was flying only 800 feet 
172 



A SEAPLANE WRECK 

over our head, aiming down the Channel. 
It seemed impossible that she could not sight 
us, for the air was perfectly clear. She 
passed straight above, without making any 
signal, flew two miles beyond, and came back 
on her course. 

" 'Her observer must be sending wireless 
about us,' I said. 

" 'Yes ; that is why we get no recognition,' 
said Moore; 'and now she's decided to go 
back and report.' 

"But the plane had not even seen us. Our 
spirits fell." 

It was not until after eighty hours had 
been spent on the wrecked seaplane that help 
came. A trawler sighted them, and, mis- 
taking them for Germans, approached war- 
ily. Both men were too weak to stand up 
and signal, but the ship finally drew near and 
the men were lifted aboard. Later they 
learned that every machine from the sea- 
plane bases, and even those from a station 
on the French coast, had flown continually 
for three days over the sea in search of them. 

Ensign Stone, who is a native of Norfolk, 
enlisted as a seaman, was trained as an avi- 
^7Z 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

ator, and attached to the naval air station 
at Hampton Roads. While flying abroad he 
served under the commander of the United 
States naval forces for patrol duty. 



174 



XXIX 

A BALLOON WRECK 

THE first American medal to be awarded 
for "extraordinary heroism" in the war 
with Germany was presented to Patrick Mc- 
Gunigal, a ship's fitter of the U.S.S. Hunt- 
ington. No matter what position a man 
may fill in the United States Navy, he may 
be counted upon to respond instantly to a 
call for help. The hero is often a man with 
no special preparation for the work de- 
manded. 

In the long history of the Navy it might 
be imagined that every conceivable form of 
accident would be a commonplace, but Mc- 
Gunigal nevertheless faced a danger new to 
the seas. A lieutenant had gone aloft in a 
balloon to make observations, when a squall 
struck his unwieldy craft so suddenly that 
he had no time to save it. The captive bal- 
loon is a novelty on shipboard, and the crews 
175 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

are as yet scarcely familiar with all the tricks 
that the wind may play with it. 

A balloon is in no sense shipshape. Un- 
der the most favorable conditions it is an 
awkward, unwieldy thing to handle. The 
inflation even of a small observation balloon 
requires skill and patience. The generators 
must be carefully adjusted and the huge 
silken bag kept under control with difficulty 
while it slowly fills. A considerable force 
of men is required for the work. 

No other activity on shipboard is so much 
at the mercy of the weather. A gust of 
wind that would pass unnoticed under ordi- 
nary conditions is anxiously watched by the 
balloon crew. A light breeze is enough to 
make the captive balloon toss about and 
strain at its ropes. The fabric, too, is so 
delicate that contact with some metal corner 
of the ship's upper works may tear it. 

Once inflated and the observer's basket 
attached, the balloon ropes must be paid out 
skilfully until it is free from the ship. 
Should it swing against hot metal, there is 
imminent danger of an explosion. The 
wind must be closely watched, since every 
176 



A BALLOON WRECK 

gust is a menace to the balloon and its pas- 
sengers. Even when it has risen above the 
level of the stacks, the towering steel obser- 
vation masts of our battle-ships menace it 
until the balloon is well aloft. 

In drawing down and housing the ship's 
balloon the dangers are repeated. The bal- 
loon must, besides, be kept inflated for days 
at a time. It is usually lashed as securely 
as possible on the after-deck, where it takes 
up a surprising amount of valuable space. 
A ship thus equipped appears to have some 
curious swelling or excrescence bulging high 
above the turrets. In case of a blow the 
silken bag, even in this position, offers so 
much surface to the wind that it is often 
difficult to keep it in place. 

The captive balloon on the U.S.S. Hunt- 
ington had been struck by a squall, driven 
down, and soused into the sea in a flash. 
The officer observer in the basket was drawn 
under the water, and on rising found him- 
self a prisoner amid a tangle of ropes in 
the partially submerged basket. A wrecked 
balloon is an exceedingly dangerous craft. 
The air-filled bag is, of course, practically 
177 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

unsinkable, but it also drives before the 
wind. The basket may be compared to a 
tilted pail as it is dragged along the water 
in the wake of the balloon. The inflated 
silk proves very elusive. A man cannot dig 
his nails into the soft silk, and it sinks like 
a pillow under his weight if he tries to 
climb on it. 

The officer in the basket was drenched and 
blinded by the water. McGunigal was the 
first to reach the wreck. He climbed down 
the ship's side and, dragging a rope after 
him, swam to the balloon. The basket filled 
and sank, and McGunigal, while supporting 
the exhausted officer, struggled with the tan- 
gle of ropes. 

While supporting the officer with one arm, 
McGunigal tried desperately to hold to the 
balloon for support. It continued to elude 
him, sinking at the slightest touch or driv- 
ing ahead before the wind with each gust, 
and pulling the two men along in its wake. 
It would be difficult to conceive of a more 
baffling object. But a drowning man will 
grasp at a straw — or a submerged balloon. 
McGunigal managed to fasten the rope he 
178 



A BALLOON WRECK 

carried about the officer, who was now thor- 
oughly exhausted, and the two were finally 
drawn on board. 



179 



XXX 

AIR COAST PATROL 

THE exploit of the first naval dirigible to 
be detailed on actual submarine scout 
duty in home waters is typical of this dan- 
gerous service. The names of the pilot and 
of the student who made the flight have been 
censored by the naval authorities. 

Profiting by French and English experi- 
ence in building such aircraft, the new 
American naval dirigible is especially effi- 
cient. It is of the general "blimp" type. 
Beneath a cigar-shaped balloon envelope is 
suspended a serviceable car carrying the 
engines and the crew, which, unlike many 
European dirigibles, will float upon the sur- 
face of the water. 

The craft will rise rapidly to great alti- 
tudes, and may be driven under favorable 
conditions at a speed of forty miles an hour 
or better. Like other lighter-than-air ma- 
i8o 



% m^ 




AIR COAST PATROL 

chines, the naval dirigible can maintain a 
stationary position in the air, which renders 
it especially valuable for scout work. It can 
therefore do some scout work better than 
the aeroplane — in its present stage of de- 
velopment. 

The aeroplane scout makes much faster 
time than a dirigible covering a wider area ; 
but the aeroplane must maintain a constant 
speed of fifty miles an hour or so, which 
makes close observation difficult. If the 
sea be rough or obscured by fog, it is a very 
easy matter in such rapid flight to miss so 
small an object as the periscope of a subma- 
rine. From the car of the new naval dirig- 
ible, whose flight maybe stopped at any mo- 
ment, the observer can observe more closely. 

When the first submarine raid was made 
on American shipping off the Atlantic coast, 
it found the Navy in readiness for scout 
service. The Government has not permitted 
any definite figures to be published as to the 
strength of the scouting fleet of aircraft en- 
gaged in the work, but it was probably num- 
bered by hundreds. While the torpedo- 
boats and submarine-chasers were scouring 
183 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

the waters for the enemy, the most formi- 
dable air fleet ever assembled in America 
was soon aloft, scouting far out to sea. 
From the various coast resorts the air fleets 
were watched day after day as they pa- 
trolled back and forth at regular intervals 
with the regularity of a railroad schedule. 

The service aloft in these scouting craft 
is a very daunting business. It is extremely 
creditable to the hundreds of naval airmen 
that they should have responded so quickly 
and acquitted themselves so well in this new 
experience. Few, if any, of these men had 
ever seen active service. The scouting 
trips carried them far out of sight of land. 
In case of accident they might find them- 
selves far from assistance in the open sea. 

Much of the time the weather was unfa- 
vorable and the air fleets faced high winds. 
The reader will readily recall the fact that 
but a few years since an airman who went 
aloft took his life in his hands and his flight 
was watched with breathless interest. To- 
day the Navy comprises tens of thousands 
of men who not only take their aircraft aloft 
184 



AIR COAST PATROL 

under the most dangerous weather condi- 
tions but are prepared to fight as well. 
Every member of the great scouting fleet 
may be said to have shown conspicuous 
bravery. 

One of the scouting dirigibles, however, 
deserves special mention. It had started out 
from the naval station at Cape May, carry- 
ing a pilot and a student aviator. So fleet 
are these craft that it was ordered to patrol 
the entire length of the New Jersey coast 
from Cape May to Sandy Hook. While 
flying far out at a point forty-five miles 
southeast of Sandy Hook, the engines be- 
came disabled and the dirigible was forced 
to descend. 

The dirigible had planned to scout off 
shore the length of the New Jersey coast 
and return before night. When the time 
for her arrival had passed, a fleet of sea- 
planes and destroyers was sent out, and 
searched throughout the night, but without 
finding any trace of her. The crew of the 
wrecked dirigible, meanwhile, plutkily la- 
bored for hours to get the engines to work, 
185 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

without success. Several passing ships were 
sighted at a distance, but they failed to sight 
the dirigible. 

After many hours in this extremely peril- 
ous position, the dirigible was sighted by the 
schooner Luther Little and brought safely 
to New York. Three other naval airmen 
were wrecked in a similar manner, and were 
missing for three days, but succeeded in 
bringing back their aircraft. It is gratify- 
ing to know that the naval airmen were found 
well prepared for service and that hundreds 
of aircraft were able to fly for tens of thou- 
sands of miles under difficult conditions 
without the loss of a single man. 



i86 



XXXI 
SPOTTING THE FALL OF SHOTS 

DURING a naval engagement the most 
exposed position in the entire fleet is 
probably that of the men who go aloft to 
spot the fall of shots. Whether his observa- 
tions be made from a kite balloon or an 
aeroplane, he becomes a tempting target for 
the enemy's fire. The great bulk of a bal- 
loon tethered to the masts of the battle-ship 
is clearly visible for miles, while the white 
wings of an aeroplane are always conspicu- 
ous. The observer in such a craft is abso- 
lutely without protection of any kind, and a 
lucky shot brings him down with a rush. 

A writer of fiction who prophesied years 
ago the use of aircraft with the navies 
questioned whether men could be found to 
face calmly so great a hazard as these flights 
required. He dwelt upon the horrors of a 
fall from a great altitude, and the insecurity 
187 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

of the position, drawing a fairly accurate 
picture of the service that is to-day a com- 
monplace. His doubts have been definitely 
answered. Aeronautical work is now prob- 
ably the most popular branch of the service. 

The records of the Navy Department fail 
to mention any award of merit for conspicu- 
ous bravery among the aero observers. It is 
a high tribute to the courage of the men that 
this exceedingly difficult and dangerous work 
should have been performed satisfactorily 
for years, and is looked upon merely as an 
every-day affair undeserving special men- 
tion. 

The observers are carried aloft by aero- 
planes, naval dirigible balloons, kite balloons, 
and ordinary captive balloons. Each form 
of aircraft has some advantage of its own; 
all are distinctly perilous. From a position 
above the fighting-ships the observer must 
not only coolly face the danger of instant 
destruction, but his observations require him, 
at the same time, to make complicated math- 
ematical calculations. A man may find 
courage to control himself and look down 



SPOTTING THE FALL OF SHOTS 

the mouth of an enemy's gun, but it is an- 
other thing at such a time to make use of 
his knowledge of higher mathematics. 

The observer in a captive balloon commu- 
nicates with his base, as a rule, by means of 
a telephone running down the rope that teth- 
ers him to his ship. He sits in the basket 
with a telephone receiver clasped to his ears 
and a transmitter before him, leaving both 
hands free. With his glasses trained on 
the enemy's position, he can report his ob- 
servation without the delay of a second. 
The value of such observations are obvious. 

An aeroplane or a naval dirigible, being 
detached, may cruise to any distance, and 
has a much better chance of dodging the 
enemy's fire. The observations in this case 
are transmitted by wireless telegraphy. Un- 
til the war came, observers were seriously 
hampered by the lack of light and efficient 
wireless apparatus. The equipment weighed 
from three to five pounds per mile of trans- 
mission. Their radius was thus very lim- 
ited. In two years the weight of such ap- 
paratus was reduced, however, to only one 
189 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

pound per mile of transmission, and the car- 
rying capacity of all forms of aircraft was 
at the same time greatly increased. 

It is necessary for the observer in an 
aeroplane or a dirigible to be an expert wire- 
less operator or to carry an assistant. It 
requires a good mental poise to use one's 
knowledge of so complicated a science when 
exposed under fire at high altitude, but there 
is no lack of volunteers for this difficult post. 

The efficiency of gun fire has been enor- 
mously increased with the assistance of these 
observers. From an altitude of perhaps 
several miles they can look directly down 
upon the enemy. If a shot falls short or 
goes too far, the gunners are instantly in- 
formed and can correct their aim for the 
next discharge. Since the gun fire of mod- 
ern battle-ships is marvelously accurate, a 
word is sufficient. There have been in- 
stances of observers giving such minute di- 
rections to their gun crews that a particular 
part of a ship has been struck, not once but 
repeatedly, at a distance of several miles. 

With the aid of the observers, the long- 
range guns of the battle-ships may be used 
190 



SPOTTING THE FALL OF SHOTS 

to bombard cities and ships on waterways 
far inland. The target may be miles dis- 
tant, and separated by intervening moun- 
tains and wooded country ; yet shots thus di- 
rected have struck within a few feet of the 
target. 



191 



XXXII 
AIR SCOUTING 

WHEN the history of the war comes 
to be written, it will be found that 
the naval air pilots have taken a major part 
in turning the scales against the submarine. 
When a new line of attack was demanded to 
overcome this menace, the naval air pilot 
rose to the occasion. By many long and per- 
ilous vigils, by day and night, above the sea 
lanes, he has put fear into the hearts of the 
U-boats' crews. 

Naval aircraft are counted by thousands. 
With the progress of the war the most fan- 
tastic dreams of romances have been real- 
ized. These fleets go aloft, patrol extended 
areas, and return with the regularity of a 
railroad schedule. Thousands of square 
miles of water are thus kept under constant 
observation. Even so small an object as 
the periscope of a submarine cannot long 
escape their observation. 
192 



AIR SCOUTING 

These air fleets must be manned by a 
highly specialized personnel. Apart from 
the skill and experience required by the pilot 
in making long air cruises, the observer must 
be especially fitted for his work. One of the 
great advantages of such craft is the oppor- 
tunity they afford for "deep sea vision." 
The phase is new in naval terms. From a 
point directly above, the observer is able to 
look down into the water to surprising 
depths. He can spy upon submarines, even 
when submerged to a depth of a hundred 
feet, which would be invisible to any other 
craft. 

Before being intrusted with the post of 
observer, the naval aero observer requires 
long technical training. The depth at which 
a submarine may be observed depends upon 
the color of the floor of the sea and on that 
of the sky. A thousand details must be 
mastered. A different experience in train- 
ing is required for the men who observe from 
a scouting aeroplane or from a "blimp" — a 
balloon with an aeroplane chassis attached 
beneath it. The chassis carries the motor 
and propeller, these being supported by the 
193 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

balloon instead of by wings. The propeller 
drives the chassis through the air, and the 
balloon is drawn along after it. The ob- 
server in a ''blimp" can travel forty miles 
an hour, but he can also hover or come to 
rest in mid-air, and remain in a stationary 
position for an indefinite time. The aero- 
plane, on the other hand, may have a speed 
of more than a hundred miles an hour, but 
it cannot slow down to less than thirty miles 
without danger of falling. 

The American Navy has for several years 
been actively training air pilots and observ- 
ers. It is not generally known that the first 
submarine hunt in America occurred as early 
as March 26, 191 7. Two U-boats were re- 
ported one day off the Long Island shore, 
"lying in toward the Sound." The report 
proved to be a false alarm, but it found the 
naval authorities on the alert. Four flyers 
rose from Mineola and Governor's Island, 
and, in the face of a forty-mile wind with 
rain and fog, scouted off the Long Island 
shore. The aeroplanes went out to sea from 
five to seven miles. The search lasted for 
three days. 

194 



AIR SCOUTING 

.The first report of the submarine raid on 
American shipping off our coast early in 191 8 
found the Navy well prepared. No official 
figures are available, for obvious reasons; 
but it is known that several hundred aero- 
planes, manned with experienced pilots and 
observers, were ready for duty. Within a 
few hours the whir of their propellers might 
be heard along the coast from Maine to 
Florida. The patrol covered thousands of 
miles without a serious accident. 

The pilots and observers are also trained 
in bomb-dropping. The men first receive 
technical instruction which enables them to 
calculate the trajectory of a bomb in falling 
from an aeroplane in rapid flight. He prac- 
tises with an ingenious contrivance, drop- 
ping weights upon a miniature landscape or 
sea dotted with ships. In many flights he 
learns to drop dummy bombs upon a variety 
of targets. A great force of alert American 
boys are already actively engaged in such 
naval patrol work abroad and at home, while 
a much larger force is receiving instruction. 

No flying is probably at once so perilous 
and so fascinating as the night reconnais- 
195 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

sance work. As a rule, only the most expe- 
rienced and dependable air pilots are in- 
trusted with such details. These airmen 
must fly practically blindfolded. Since the 
earth is hidden, the pilot must depend largely 
upon his sense of equilibrium to tell him at 
what angle his craft may be inchned. The 
lights visible on land or water at night from 
an altitude of several miles are at best very 
indistinct and misleading. 

Since all friendly as well as enemy air- 
craft fly with lights out, they cannot be seen, 
even on clear nights, except at close range. 
The night pilot must get his bearings at such 
times from the noise made by the propellers 
of approaching craft. From long experi- 
ence, he is able to distinguish the different 
note in the whir of the propellers driven by 
different engines. His life may depend upon 
the accuracy of his judgment in thus dis- 
tinguishing friend from foe. 

The obvious danger in night flying is, of 
course, that the pilot may lose his way and 
be unable to return to his base. An elab- 
orate system of signals has been worked out 
to enable him to recognize his friend. On 
196 



AIR SCOUTING 

approaching his base, while sailing at a safe 
altitude, the pilot, by means of a light, com- 
municates in a secret code. He must wait 
until he receives a reply in the same code 
before coming down. The enemy will, of 
course, try to deceive him, and the pilot must 
be on his guard. Only when an exchange of 
signals absolutely satisfies him is the pilot 
allowed to negotiate the difficult operation 
of a night landing. 



197 



XXXIII 
AERO PHOTOGRAPHY 

ALTHOUGH no men have as yet been 
singled out for conspicuous bravery 
among the aero photographers of the Navy, 
their service is at once so perilous and so 
picturesque that no list of naval heroes would 
be complete without them. The aero pho- 
tographer faces much the same danger as 
other flyers, and in addition must approach 
close enough to the enemy positions to focus 
his camera upon them, and return again and 
again to the point of danger to make sure of 
his exposures. A verbal report of the work 
of the bombing planes will not suffice: the 
aero camera-man must bring back actual 
photographs, and good ones, of the damage 
inflicted. 

No other country is so well prepared as 
America to supply expert camera-men for 
this service. We are a nation of photog- 
198 




(C) Brown and Dawson. 

An American Fleet in Chinese Waters 




(C) Brown and Dawson. 



The Deck from Aloft 



AERO PHOTOGRAPHY 

raphers. It has been estimated that there 
is one camera in use for every four people, 
counting the entire population. Children 
begin by snapping pictures with small hand 
cameras, and replace them with better ap- 
paratus as they grow older. Much of this 
knowledge is elemental, but a large propor- 
tion of the population learn to take excellent 
pictures. When the demand for photog- 
raphers for the Navy was made, there was a 
wealth of good material to choose from. It 
was not necessary to train men from the be- 
ginning. Thousands were found among 
those enlisted • who were already skilled 
camera-men. 

In order to carry on naval preparations 
over the sea, hundreds of miles of photo- 
graphic maps must be prepared. Every de- 
tail of the enemy's coast-lines is photo- 
graphed. Before an air raid is carried out 
— such as that upon the German submarine 
base at Ostend — the aero photographers are 
sent out again and again. The anti-aircraft 
defenses are able to put up a barrage fire to 
a height of more than ten thousand feet, or 
two miles. To fly below this level is to face 

20I 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

great danger. The photographic planes 
often venture much lower down, however, 
to secure sharply focussed pictures. And 
they do so, perhaps, at intervals of a few 
hours, in order to photograph any changes 
the enemy may make in his defenses. 

So vital are these aero photographs to the 
naval authorities in planning a raid that no 
risk is considered too great in securing them. 
With these photographic maps of the coast- 
lines before him, a naval officer may be said 
to look directly down upon the enemy. Lit- 
tle is left to chance. From these pictures 
the exact position of the weak points in the 
enemy's lines are ascertained, and the pilots 
of bombing machines may be told just what 
he is to do. 

Aero photographers not only precede the 
raids, but they must follow them as well, to 
bring back definite photographic evidence of 
the damage inflicted. As a matter of course, 
the enemy knows that the aero photogra- 
phers are coming, and is on the lookout for 
them; but even this danger must be faced, 
so important is the evidence collected. 

While working under (or is it over?) fire, 
202 



AERO PHOTOGRAPHY 

the aero camera-man must have steady 
nerves and an unshaken hand. Every one 
knows how dehcate a matter it is to judge 
the distance and the Hght in making a good 
picture. In photographing from the air the 
problem becomes much more compHcated. 
The passage of clouds and the effect of at- 
mospheric conditions at high altitudes must 
be considered. With the enemy sending up 
a deadly barrage, or perhaps an enemy fleet 
attempting to drive him away, these camera- 
men of the air forces never falter. 

Everything is done to simplify the work 
and save a few seconds of priceless time. 
The cameras are sometimes placed in the 
floor of the car, or fastened to the outer 
side, and arranged with ingenious automatic 
devices for making the exposures. The pic- 
tures may be taken by pressing a button or 
pulling a strap. Moving pictures are also 
taken aloft, and thousands of exposures 
made, as the aeroplane dodges the enemy's 
fire. 

The remarkable photographs that appear 
in such numbers in the papers and magazines 
gain a new interest when we consider how 
203 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

high a price is paid to secure them. The 
aero camera-man must exercise all his skill 
and ingenuity, knowing that any exposure 
may be his last and an unlucky shot may 
send him plunging down. The courage 
that enables our men to face such dangers 
is so common that the authorities have not 
seen fit to give it special mention. 



204 



XXXIV 
A SEVEN-HOUR AIR BATTLE 

AT the beginning of the war the aero- 
plane was little more than a toy. Its 
most enthusiastic friends did not anticipate 
its amazing development. The first encoun- 
ters between aircraft were watched with 
curiosity, but the military advantage of the 
air fleets was considered problematical. 
Under the most favorable conditions it was 
found difficult to keep an aeroplane aloft for 
any length of time; they carried little weight, 
and air navigation was difficult. When two 
aeroplanes met in combat, they manoeuvered 
much the same as knights in a medieval 
tournament. Flying at comparatively low 
altitudes, they would pass each other, firing 
a few shots from guns of small caliber, and 
then turn and repeat the attack. 

Two American officers — Lieutenant J. A. 
Eaton and K. B. Keyes — recently took part 
in an air battle that lasted for more than 
205 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

seven hours. The engagement took place 
above the sea, far out of sight of land. In 
case of accident the airmen faced the danger 
of drowning. A series of complicated ma- 
noeuvers were carried on aloft, while the bat- 
tle was fought by formidable air batteries. 

The description of the air battle written 
by Lieutenant Keyes is fascinating. Keyes 
was gun-layer in an aeroplane, one of a fleet 
of five aircraft flying off the coast of Hol- 
land near Terschelling, when a fleet of Ger- 
man machines was sighted. 

''Lieutenant G was seated near the 

wheel," Keyes writes. "His duty was to 
kneel, with his eyes above the cowl, and di- 
rect the pilot. I was in the front cockpit, 
with one gun and four hundred rounds of 
ammrmition. In the stern cockpit the en- 
gineer and wireless ratings were to handle 
three guns. 

"We took battle formation, and went for- 
ward to meet the enemy machines ; but when 
almost within range they turned and ran 
away from us." 

Later another fleet of German planes was 
sighted and again driven off. These fleets 
206 



A SEVEN-HOUR AIR BATTLE 

were probably acting as decoys, for shortly 
afterward the Germans appeared in consid- 
erable force. Lieutenant Keyes describes 
the main action as follows: 

"Suddenly we discovered that a large num- 
ber of hostile planes were steering toward 
us, not high in the air, but very close to the 
water. Ten machines were in this group, 
but they were joined in a few minutes by 
five more. The scouts were painted black 
and the two seaters green, and seemed very 
hard to pick up. 

*'We swung into battle formation and 
aimed for the middle of the fleet. When 
we were nearly within range, four planes on 
the port side and five on the starboard side 
were close to our level. Two planes passed 
directly beneath us, shooting upward. The 
firing was incessant from the beginning, and 
the air seemed blue with tracer smoke. The 
Germans used explosive bullets." 

The wounding of Lieutenant G , which 

occurred at the height of the battle, did not 
shake the nerve of the Americans, who con- 
tinued to fight while their comrade lay un- 
conscious beside them. 
207 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

''Once I looked round," writes Lieutenant 

Keyes, ''and noticed that Lieutenant G 

was in a stooping position, with his head and 
one arm on his seat, the other arm hanging 
down as if reaching for something. I had 
seen him in this posture earlier in the day, 
and so thought nothing of it. All this I 
noticed in the fraction of a second, for I had 
to continue firing. 

"A few minutes later I turned around 
once more, and found with a shock that 

Lieutenant G was in the same position. 

It was then that the first inkling of the truth 
dawned on me. By bending lower I dis- 
covered his head was lying in a pool of 
blood." 

The Allied squadron put up a good run- 
ning fight, despite their losses. The reports 
of the various pilots shows that the discipline 
was excellent throughout. The aeroplanes 
kept in battle formation and carried out sev- 
eral difficult air manoeuvers. Lieutenant 
Keyes' description of the later phases of the 
battle makes stirring reading: 

"Suddenly I found our machine had been 
208 



A SEVEN-HOUR AIR BATTLE 

cut off from the formation and we were sur- 
rounded by seven enemy seaplanes. We 
fought for ten miles or so, until we drove 
seven Germans off. One of them was driven 
down out of control and made a very poor 
landing. Another was badly hit, side- 
slipped, and crashed in flames from a height 
of two thousand feet. All were severely 
punished." 

The engines of Lieutenant Keyes' machine 
now began to act badly. From the matter- 
of-fact description it is difficult to realize that 
the scene was taking place high above the 
sea. 

"The engineer came forward," writes the 
Lieutenant, "to say that the port engine pe- 
trol pipe had broken. By this time I had laid 

out Lieutenant G in the wireless cockpit, 

cleaned up the second pilot's seat, and taken 
it myself. 

"We descended to the water at 4 145 p. m., 
ten miles northwest of Vlieland. There I 

loosened Lieutenant G 's clothing, made 

his position easier, and felt for his heart, 

which I was sure was beating feebly. Then 

209 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

we rose and sighted two of our own planes. 
We picked them up, swung into formation, 
and laid our course for Z. 

''At 7 : 10 we sighted land, and twenty min- 
utes after we were resting in front of the 
slipway. We at once summoned medical 
aid, but found that nothing could be done 

for Lieutenant G . The shot had gone 

through his head, striking his mouth and 
coming out behind one ear, tearing a two- 
inch gash. Our boat was riddled with a 
number of shots, and had also a torn top be- 
tween the front cockpit and the beginning of 
the cowl. The duration of the fight was 
seven hours and ten minutes." 



2IO 



PART IV 
IN HOME WATERS 



XXXV 
IN PEACE TIMES 

PEACE has its heroes no less than war. 
In the daily routine life of the fleet 
there is no lack of opportunity for distin- 
guished service. The fleets comprise a 
widely scattered population equal to that of a 
considerable city. An immense amount of 
labor must be done on an exacting schedule. 
This population, again, is constantly threat- 
ened by the manifold dangers of life at sea, 
^yhile each of the floating fortresses carries 
immense stores of explosives. The average 
man who watches a great fleet sweep out to 
sea little realizes the sleepless vigilance that 
guards its safety. 

From the hour a ship is laid down in some 
navy-yard until, years later, she is con- 
demned and broken up, every hour of her life 
is fraught with danger. A man-of-war laid 
up for repairs at the New York Navy- Yard 
213 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

would seem to be safe from the perils of the 
sea. No submarine could penetrate here 
while her gangway leads directly to solid 
earth. Yet, during the repairing of a ship 
in this dry-dock recently, an ugly fire broke 
out in the lower part of the ship's hold. It 
was a simple matter to flood the burning 
area, and the fire-fighters of the crew were 
at their stations, when a report came that a 
workman was missing somewhere below. 
Following the alarm there had been ample 
time for all to reach the deck; but, as it was 
discovered later, a boy assisting the workmen 
in the ship's tank had become unconscious 
from the smoke and heat and was left be- 
hind. 

A hurried consultation was held on deck, 
and it was decided that the boy must lie at the 
bottom of a shaft some thirty feet below the 
main-deck. It was impossible to reach the 
point by the ship's ladder or by stairways, 
which were cut off by the flames. A volun- 
teer was called for, and a seaman was se- 
lected from the several sailors who stepped 
forward. A line was placed around his 
body, and, armed with a small lantern, he 
214 



IN PEACE TIMES 

was lowered cautiously into the darkness. 

As he descended the heat became intense 
and the smoke was suffocating. A signal 
would have brought him to the safe level of 
the deck in a few seconds; but the sailor 
made the descent, and then, lantern in hand, 
began to search for the missing workman. 
To the men holding the rope on deck the time 
seemed interminable. Several minutes 
passed without any sign from below. The 
men were on the point of pulling up, fearing 
their man was unconscious, when the wel- 
come signal came. The increased weight on 
the rope told its own story. When the sailor 
appeared above deck, he was clasping the 
unconscious body of the missing boy. A lit- 
tle adventure of this kind is considered all 
in the day's work. 

A somewhat similar accident occurred 
aboard the U. S. S. Buck at one of the navy- 
yards. Two employees of the navy-yard had 
entered the coffer-dam of the Buck without 
permission, and were overcome by poisonous 
gases in the hold of the vessel. Every one 
realized the danger of entering the hold and 
breathing the dangerous fumes, but volun- 
215 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

teers to save the men were not lacking. A 
quartermaster, Felix Laskowsky, was se- 
lected from among those who volunteered. 
Attaching a long line about his body, he de- 
scended into the hold safely, found one of 
the unconscious men, and was struggling up 
the ladder with his burden when he was him- 
self overcome. He fell from the ladder, 
fracturing his skull, and died almost imme- 
diately. The young quartermaster had en- 
listed at Dallas, Texas, less than a year 
before. 

The term sea-cook should no longer be a 
term of reproach. No special heroism is 
called for in the ship's galley under ordinary 
circumstances. Every man aboard ship 
nevertheless, when the test comes, may be 
depended upon. The adventure of William 
B. Gray of the Naval Reserve, while serving 
as ship's cook, should serve to remove that 
ancient stigma which attaches to the sea cook 
and his progeny. 

Gray's ship chanced to be stationed in 

North Carolina Sounds one January when 

an unusually severe cold wave covered the 

Sounds with thick ice, which remained un- 

216 



IN PEACE TIMES 

broken for three weeks. The condition was 
very unusual in that locality. A lighthouse 
within sight of the ship, with its inmates sta- 
tioned at a particularly inaccessible point, 
was completely isolated and cut off from sup- 
plies. Word reached the ship that the light- 
house-keeper and his family were suffering. 

The ice covering the Sounds was much too 
thick to break a channel for a boat, while too 
thin in places to allow a man to cross in 
safety. The Sounds were, besides, swept by 
strong* and irregular currents, and should a 
man break through he would probably be 
swept under the ice. Gray conceived the 
idea of attaching runners to a ship's boat, 
and when this remarkable boat-sled was 
ready it was loaded with supplies for the 
marooned lighthouse-keeper. Gray made 
the trip alone. 

The heavier portions of the ice were 
crossed by pushing the boat cautiously for- 
ward. There were many weak spots, and 
Gray had to keep tight hold of his boat to 
guard against accident. Several times he 
broke through the ice, but saved himself by 
holding to the side of the boat and climbing 
217 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

aboard. When the ice proved too thin to 
support the sled, the boat was pushed labori- 
ously forward. Standing at the prow, Gray 
would break the ice before him with an oar 
and then push his boat into the opening. It 
was slow work. 

After many hours Gray reached the light- 
house and the supplies were transferred. 
Throughout the trip the cold was intense, 
and after each wetting the water froze sol- 
idly the cook's clothes. Considerable skill 
was required in handling the boat to negoti- 
ate these icy passages. Gray was new to the 
service, having enlisted but a few months be- 
fore. He is a native of Newbern, North 
Carolina, and doubtless drew encouragement 
from the fact that his act of heroism was to 
bring relief to people of his own State. 



218 



XXXVI 
ON THE SPUR OF THE MOMENT 

IN commending the bravery of Ora Graves, 
a seaman of the U.S.S. Pittsburgh, the 
Government showed that it keeps an alert 
eye upon every activity of its great fleets. 
On this date, December 23, 1917, great 
issues were at stake in European waters, 
and an act of heroism at home might easily 
have passed unnoticed. 

The Graves affair is specially interesting 
because it came unexpectedly in the course of 
ordinary daily drill. In a great naval battle, 
or while navigating dangerous waters, the 
crew might naturally be keyed up to the occa- 
sion and in a mood for special acts of hero- 
ism. The firing of a salute in American 
waters was as commonplace as the scrubbing 
of a deck. Discipline might be expected to 
relax at such times below the fighting pitch. 
Like scores of other duties aboard ship, it is 
219 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

all in the day's work, when the men might be 
caught off their guard. 

The drill has been made familiar by many 
pictures, including moving pictures. The 
gun crew take their stations on the open 
deck, for no return fire is to be expected. 
The cartridge is brought up by an electric 
hoist. The men have come to look upon 
such drill with the contempt of its dangers 
bred of long familiarity. A mere three-inch 
shell seems as harmless to them as a fire- 
cracker. The smooth mechanism of the gun 
is set in motion. The gun is opened and a 
cartridge slid swiftly into place and the 
breech closed. Accustomed to the roar of 
fourteen-inch guns the report of the salute 
charge scarcely attracts the crew's attention. 

At the firing of such a salute charge from 
a three-inch gun, one day aboard the U.S.S. 
Pittsburgh, an ugly explosion occurred. 
Two men were instantly killed and several 
others, including Graves, seriously injured. 
The crew were taken entirely by surprise. 

The seaman Graves had been struck sense- 
less and hurled some distance along the deck. 
The alarm of the explosion spread instantly, 
220 



ON THE SPUR OF THE MOMENT 

and in a moment men were rushing to the 
gun to lend assistance. Graves lay for a 
few seconds unconscious some feet from the 
gun, and in the excitement of the moment 
was overlooked. 

He recovered consciousness, pulled him- 
self to a sitting position, and looked about 
hazily. His eyes rested on some burning 
waste that had been ignited by the explosion 
and hurled some distance from the gun. It 
had fallen near a casement containing a large 
supply of explosives. No one else had no- 
ticed the fire or realized the danger to the 
ship. There was not an instant to spare. 

Weak as he was from the explosion, 
Graves staggered to his feet. He might 
have called for help, but he realized that he 
could reach the burning waste before any 
one else, and the safety of the ship might be 
decided by a second's time. His injuries 
pained him cruelly, and once he staggered 
and nearly fell ; but he had reached the burn- 
ing waste before any one else realized the 
ship's danger. 

The fire had already spread near the pow- 
der when Graves, gathering up the cotton in 

221 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

his arms, and working with desperate haste, 
began to throw it overboard. There were 
several armloads of the waste, but Graves 
stuck doggedly at his work until the last of 
it was in the sea. Not until the danger was 
over did he realize that he was seriously 
burned about the face, neck and hands. A 
few seconds' delay would have brought the 
flames to the powder and the entire ship 
would have been wrecked and probably lost. 
The inspiration of the incident lies in the 
readiness of the seaman to think and act the 
moment he regained consciousness. Few 
people, on awaking even from a normal sleep, 
instantly regain all their faculties. After 
such a shock the strongest man might be 
expected to look somewhat hazily about him. 
Graves was able to see and act with instant 
decision. The medal awarded to Graves 
was the second to be awarded since our 
entrance into the war. 



222 



XXXVII 
THE FIRE-FIGHTERS 

AMERICAN seamen are found ex- 
tremely versatile in attacking problems 
that demand quick decision. Scattered as 
they are throughout the country, a great va- 
riety of demands are continually made upon 
them, quite apart from their duties with the 
fleet. The constantly mounting debt that 
the public owes the men of the Navy for 
such assistance is not generally appreciated. 

When the business district of Norfolk, 
Virginia, was threatened by fire, every one, 
as a matter of course, turned to the sailors 
for assistance. The case is typical. The 
discipline of the Navy is one of the most 
highly prized assets of the country. The ar- 
rival of sailors at the scene of any catas- 
trophe instantly inspires confidence. 

The fire at Norfolk, it will be remembered, 
223 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

threatened the entire city. Every available 
piece of fighting apparatus had been called, 
but the fire continued to spread. The fire 
departments of near-by towns were called 
upon. Scores of fire-engines were hastily 
loaded on flat-cars and rushed to the city. 

The arrival of a large force of enlisted 
men from the Norfolk Navy Yard finally 
turned the tide of battle and the city was 
saved. Hurried to the scene, some of the 
men were detailed to patrol the city, to han- 
dle the crowd and protect property, while 
others took a hand in the fight. The men 
gave an excellent account of themselves. At 
such a time the discipline and team work 
that is the result of years of training comes 
out strongly in contrast with the well mean- 
ing but undisciplined efi^orts of a crowd of 
volunteers. 

No time was lost in discussion. At a com- 
mand, the men advanced double quick to 
their designated stations. The terror of the 
advancing flames and the darkened streets 
spread terror to the people. The sailors 
were at home amid such confusion. Trained 
to stand at their guns under shell fire and 
224 



THE FIRE-FIGHTERS 

coolly to execute complicated orders, they 
remained as self-possessed as if on parade. 

Before the arrival of the sailors there had 
been great difficulty in keeping the crowds 
within bounds. At several points they had 
''rushed" the ropes, filling the streets where 
the firemen were at work. But the sight of 
these well set up, disciplined men inspired 
confidence. Thereafter the streets were 
kept clear. The guard proved especially 
valuable in transmitting orders throughout 
the burning area, and in organizing and 
keeping the different fire-fighting units in 
touch with one another. 

On the fighting line, face to face with the 
fire, the sailors proved invaluable. Without 
relief many of them worked continuously 
throughout the night. The weather was ex- 
tremely cold, and many of the men were 
repeatedly drenched to the skin with the icy 
waters; but they continued at their posts, 
refusing to be relieved as long as the danger 
continued. 

There were many narrow escapes, and 
when the men reported later the officers were 
gratified to find that none were missing. At 
225 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

one point, in carrying a line of hose to the 
top of a building to gain a better position, 
the sailors were repeatedly warned by the 
local firemen. They held their posts, how- 
ever, until their own officer ordered them to 
retreat. A few minutes afterward the walls 
of the building fell in. 

An especially narrow escape was made by 
John Joseph McLoughlin, a chief boats- 
wain's mate, and two sailors who succeeded 
in carrying a line of hose through the flames 
to a valuable strategic point of attack. Like 
the many others, they continued to work 
throughout the night, although wet with 
water that froze their clothing. Many of 
the men remained continuously on duty in 
the cold for more than two days. 



226 



XXXVIII 
THOSE IN PERIL 

IN the Navy the rescue of drowning men is 
almost a daily occurrence. To fail in 
courage when such a call comes would be a 
disgrace. A complete report of such rescues 
would become monotonous from its repeti- 
tion of feats that, taken separately, would 
seem inspiring. Let the familiar cry, "Man 
overboard !" be heard at any hour of the day 
or night, winter or summer, in calm or storm, 
and there will be no lack of volunteers. The 
waters may be infested with sharks, or 
strewn with dangerous rocks : there is never 
a moment's hesitation. Once this trifling 
service has been performed, the sailor goes 
about his work and thinks nothing of the 
exercise. 

It is only when such a rescue takes some 
novel form that the public is likely to hear 
of it. Even amid the endless repetition of 

22^ 



THOSE IN PERIL 

rescues, the case of Lieutenant Richard L. 
Connoly stands out prominently. At the 
time a full northeast gale swept the Atlantic, 
swinging his ship almost on its beam ends, 
when some object became involved with the 
steering-gear. A quartermaster, in trying 
to clear the wheel, lost his balance on a sud- 
den roll of the ship, and was swept over- 
board. The sea was running wild, and, al- 
though a good swimmer, the quartermaster 
was soon exhausted. 

When it was seen that he could not help 
himself, a ship's cook fastened a rope about 
his waist and jumped in the water after him. 
He reached the quartermaster, and suc- 
ceeded with great difficulty in bringing him 
to the side of the ship. The sea, meanwhile, 
had worn out the cook, and both men were 
too weak to make use of the rope thrown to 
them. It was then that Lieutenant Connoly 
hit upon a novel plan of reaching the men. 
Swinging himself far out over the water, he 
fastened his feet in the ship's rail, and, with 
his head down, fished (so to speak) for the 
two men in the water. He could reach them 
only when the ship rolled far over. Several 
228 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

times the ship rolled toward them, but not 
far enough. The Lieutenant meanwhile, 
hanging head down, was raised violently up 
and down. After repeated attempts, he 
reached the men in the water, who grasped 
his outstretched hands. With a man cling- 
ing to each arm, he was drawn back to the 
level of the deck, saving both men at the 
same time. 

An ingenious variation on this method was 
tried with success by a seaman on the U.S.S. 
Naradalogs. The ship was lying at anchor 
in an Atlantic port, when a seaman, while 
passing a line outside the main-rigging, tum- 
bled overboard. Like Lieutenant Connoly, 
the seaman saved his man without so much 
as wetting his shirt-sleeves. Climbing down 
on the ship's chain to within a few feet of 
the water, he took a firm hold of the chain 
and swung himself down until his legs were 
on a level with the seaman's shoulders. 

The seaman was weak from his fall and 
exposure, but his rescuer twined his feet and 
legs about him and held him above the water. 
A boat was hastily lowered and the seaman 
was lifted into the boat. An interesting f ea- 
229 



THOSE IN PERIL 

ture of the rescue was the fact that the agile 
seaman had only been in service since 191 7. 

The proverbial readiness of the United 
States Marines was evidenced in a sensa- 
tional life-saving exploit in Guantanamo 
Bay, Cuba. A private of marines was float- 
ing on a log well out in the Caribbean Sea, 
when he was attacked by a shark. In de- 
fending himself he fell off the log, and, to 
add to the danger of the situation, was sud- 
denly taken with cramps. He managed to 
keep afloat, rubbing his leg vigorously to re- 
store circulation, and splashing the water to 
scare away the shark, which might still be in 
his neighborhood. 

A squall meanwhile came up quickly, as 
they are likely to do in this region, and the 
marine found himself drifting out to sea. 
He was observed from shore, and a recruit- 
ing party was at once despatched to his as- 
sistance; but the rising sea prevented them 
from getting near him. Meanwhile Private 
Leonard B. Dean, of the Marine Corps 
Branch of the National Naval Volunteers, 
watched the man drifting out to sea, and 
made his own plans to rescue him. It is one 
230 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

thing to jump into the sea in the excitement 
of the moment and bring in a man: it re- 
quires a different kind of courage to work 
out such a rescue by the laws of navigation, 
and to carry it out by three hours of swim- 
ming in a high sea. 

Dean watched the movement of the cur- 
rent and the direction of the storm, and, lay- 
ing a course accordingly, overtook the man 
on the log well out to sea, but in a favorable 
current. After three hours of swimming he 
brought his man safely to shore. He did 
not encounter the shark. After reaching 
land, Dean remarked quietly: "I thought 
the fellow would take the course he did, and 
planned it beforehand." 

A high sea tests the courage of the most 
hardened salt, and when to the storm is 
added the menace of sharks the combination 
is terrifying. Secretary Daniels has given 
special recognition to Wallace Odell Prater, 
a machinist mate of the second class, for 
facing both dangers in making a rescue. 

A seaman had fallen overboard and been 
attacked by a shark, which had bitten off his 
leg. Four other sharks were in plain view, 
231 



THOSE IN PERIL 

circling about the injured man with fierce 
darting movements. Prater, although rec- 
ognizing the danger, jumped into the water 
without the slightest hesitation, swam to the 
injured man, and, supporting him, turned to 
the ship. The fins of several sharks were 
seen in the water within a few feet of the 
two men, but they returned in safety. Pra- 
ter is a Kansas boy who had served only a 
few months in the Navy before making his 
rescue. 

Every section of the country seems to have 
contributed men to the long list of those re- 
warded for saving life. It is inspiring to 
realize that the Navy can draw upon so wide 
an area for the material from which heroes 
are made. A lad raised in the northern part 
of Alaska recently won official distinction for 
such service. He was serving in the Naval 
Reserve, second class at sea, when a ship's 
storekeeper lost his footing and fell over- 
board. In falling he struck the rail of a 
lower deck, and was senseless when he 
reached the water. The body instantly dis- 
appeared between the boat and the dock. 
The position was extremely awkward, for 
232 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

the body was quickly drawn beneath the 
dock. 

The Alaskan, without any suggestion 
from his officers, instantly jumped in at the 
point where the body had disappeared. The 
body of an unconscious man is very difficult 
to handle even in open water, and in this 
cramped position great physical strength as 
well as skill was required. The storekeeper 
was brought safely aboard. The ship's of- 
ficers watched the rescue from the deck al- 
most directly above. Upon their enthusias- 
tic report of the Alaskan's daring, the Sec- 
retary of the Navy ordered official recogni- 
tion of the act. 

The presence of a naval vessel of any kind 
is an assurance that the waters of the neigh- 
borhood will be efficiently patrolled against 
accident. Another remarkable rescue was 
made from a patrol boat in Long Island 
Sound. A young New York lad, who had 
entered the service only a few weeks before, 
was standing on deck when he saw a boat 
carrying a pleasure party swept against a 
wharf and its party thrown into the water. 

Although the tide was unusually strong, 
233 



THOSE IN PERIL 

the sailor was after them in a moment. 
Swimming to the upturned boat, he reached 
a man, and, keeping him afloat, swam about 
until he found one of the women of the 
party. He succeeded in keeping both afloat 
until assistance arrived. This lad had had 
no experience of the water before enlisting. 

A medal has been awarded by Secretary 
Daniels for the conspicuous bravery of a 
seaman in saving the life of a man who, in 
turn, was saving a third seaman. A launch 
carrying two men belonging to the Aeronau- 
tical Station at Pensacola was cruising well 
out to sea when its gasolene tank suddenly 
caught fire. The fire spread so quickly that 
the boat was soon a mass of flames, and the 
men, after fighting it until they were both 
badly burned, were forced to jump over- 
board. One of the men, an apprentice 
named Gash, was unable to support himself 
in the water, and his companion, a seaman 
named George Buckley, immediately went to 
his assistance. 

Both men were afloat when a Commo- 
dore's barge arrived on the scene. A life- 
preserver was thrown to them, but unfortu- 
234 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

nately it struck Buckley in the face, causing 
him to lose his hold on Gash, who disap- 
peared. The coxswain of the launch, John 
R. Hay, instantly went in, and brought 
Buckley to the boat's side in safety, then 
turned to find Gash. He was nowhere to be 
seen. Hay swam about until he had made 
sure of this, and then repeatedly dived to the 
bottom of the bay, finally succeeding in bring- 
ing the body of Gash to the surface. 

Through the efforts of several fearless 
American seamen, the entire ship's company 
of the Paddleford was saved, when all hope 
of rescue seemed at an end. The Paddle- 
ford had gone ashore in a heavy surf at an 
unnamed point. It was thought that no 
boat could live in the sea thus running. The 
distress signals were answered by an Ameri- 
can gunboat, whose crew readily volunteered 
to make the attempt. Lieutenant D. E. 
Barbey and Chief Boatswain Mates Strick- 
land and Williams finally succeeded in carry- 
ing a line through the breakers to the Paddle- 
ford. A heavy line was pulled aboard, 
which made it possible to take off two-thirds 
of the Paddleford's crew in safety. Later 
235 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

Ensign Ethridge and seven men from the 
gunboat succeeded in taking a boat through 
the breakers and by skilful seamanship com- 
ing alongside the wreck. In several trips 
every one remaining aboard the Paddleford 
was brought safely ashore. 



236 



XXXIX 

THE WRECK OF THE "SAN DIEGO" 

NxWAL discipline is maintained on the 
theory that the most desperate situa- 
tion may develop without warning at any 
moment. There may be but one chance in 
millions that a bolt will descend from a per- 
fectly clear sky, but the men are never 
caught off their guard. An excellent illus- 
tration of this rule is afforded in the attack 
on the United States cruiser San Diego, sunk 
off Fire Island, July i8, 1918. No German 
craft were supposed to be on this side of the 
Atlantic, and the position of the cruiser, al- 
most at the entrance to New York harbor, 
with its manifold defenses, seeemed reason- 
ably safe from attack. 

Despite the suddenness of the attack, the 
entire crew, men of every rank, faced the 
danger with perfect self-possession. Cap- 
tain H. H. Christy, of the San Diego, not 
237 



THE WRECK OF THE "SAN DIEGO" 

knowing how imminent was the danger of 
sinking, descended from deck to deck to the 
most inaccessible part of the hold. As the 
water poured into the lower part of the ship, 
the officers and men of the engine-rooms 
stood quietly at their posts. When the 
water had risen so high that the gun crew 
stood submerged to their waists, the men 
stubbornly stood to their guns in the hope 
of getting a shot at the enemy. 

Later, when the vessel sank, turning over 
as she went under, the crew showed no un- 
due haste in making their last leap into the 
water, while many clung to the ship, hoping 
against hope that she might right herself. 
Rear-Admiral Palmer, in his official report, 
makes the scene very real. 

"The explosion took place," he writes, 
"on the port side just aft of the forward 
port engine-room bulkhead. The feed-tank 
and circulating pump were blown in and the 
port engine was wrecked. Full speed ahead 
was rung, and the starboard engine operated 
until it was stopped by water rising in 
the engine-room. Machinist's Mate Haw- 
thorne, who was at the throttle in the port 
238 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

engine-room, was blown four feet under the 
engine-room deck. He got up, closed the 
throttle on the engine, which had already 
stopped, and then escaped up the engine- 
room ladder. 

''Lieutenant Miller, on watch in the star- 
board engine-room, closed the water-tight 
door to the engine-room, and gave the neces- 
sary instructions to the fire-room to protect 
the boilers. 

''The ship listed to port heavily, so that 
water entered the gun ports on the gun-deck. 
The vessel listed eight degrees quickly ; then 
hung for seven minutes; then gradually 
listed, the speed increasing until thirty-five 
degrees was reached. At this time the port 
quarter-deck was under three feet of water. 
The ship then rapidly turned turtle and sank. 
Captain Christy went from the bridge down 
two ladders to the boat-deck, slid down a line 
to the armor-belt, then dropped down four 
feet to the bilge keel, and thence to the dock- 
ing keel, which at that time was eight feet 
above water. From there he jumped into 
the water. The ship was about five minutes 
239 



THE WRECK OF THE "SAN DIEGO" 

in turning over after she reached thirty-five 
degrees heel." 

The first intimation of the attack was 
a dull explosion. The impact completely 
wrecked the wireless apparatus, so that it 
was impossible to send out a call for help. 
Although taken completely by surprise, the 
necessary orders were given and executed 
without the least panic. The Admiral's of- 
fiicial report continues: 

"Captain Christy immediately sounded 
submarine defense quarters and the general 
alarm. Everything went quietly and ac- 
cording to drill schedule. The Captain rang 
full speed ahead, and sent an officer to in- 
vestigate the damage. At the time he 
thought the ship would not sink. Two mo- 
tor-sailers were ordered rigged out, but not 
to be lowered until further orders. 

"At the submarine defense call the men 
went quietly to their stations and manned 
the guns. They stood by the port guns un- 
til they were awash, and by the starboard 
guns until the list of the ship pointed them 
up into the air. 

240 




.lit 





NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

"When it seemed obvious that the vessel 
would capsize, the order was given to aban- 
don ship, except the port-side gun crew, 
which were to remain at their stations as 
long as the guns would bear. Boats were 
ordered lowered, and two sailboats, one 
dinghy, one wherry, and two punts were 
launched. The life-rafts were launched, 
and the lumber piled on deck was loosed and 
set adrift. Fifty mess-tables and a hundred 
kapok mattresses were thrown overboard. 
Abandon ship was complete before the vessel 
began to capsize. 

'Terfect order was preserved, the men 
cheering. When on the rafts they sang 
'The Star Spangled Banner' and 'My Coun- 
try, 'T is of Thee," cheered for the Captain, 
the executive officers, and the ship, and 
cheered when the United States ensign was 
hoisted on the sailboat.'* 



243 



XL 

THE WIRELESS GUARD 

T N modern warfare, an enemy finds many 
opportunities to conceal his operations. 
The possibilites of clandestine wireless 
communication, for instance, are amazing. 
Only the constant vigilance of Government 
experts, and their ingenuity in outwitting 
the enemy, serves to keep the situation in 
hand. 

In a war the frontiers must, of course, 
be carefully guarded, and an elaborate watch 
maintained over spies within. Wireless 
electricity has greatly complicated the 
situation. From some hidden base, per- 
haps hundreds of miles inside the borders, 
instant communication is possible with sta- 
tions in other countries or even overseas. 
Until the invention of such communication 
the United States enjoyed the advantages of 
an isolated position. 

244 



THE WIRELESS GUARD 

Long before America entered the war the 
regulation of wireless messages had become 
a serious problem. To maintain its neutral- 
ity, the Government was obliged to set a 
vigilant watch upon all wireless stations, 
whether upon the land or afloat. Many 
problems new to international law were en- 
countered. It was permitted, for instance, 
to send messages even in cipher over an un- 
dersea cable, while a rigid censor forbade 
the same practice by the long-distance over- 
sea wireless stations. The wireless message 
could, of course, be picked up and read by 
ships for thousands of miles in all directions. 
A sea raider — and there were several such 
at large — could thus receive orders from its 
base concerning the position of enemy ships. 
With every desire to be neutral, America 
thus became the base from which war op- 
erations were directed. 

Thus an interesting problem arose as to 
whether the intangible wireless waves were 
not contraband of war, and therefore to be 
controlled by the laws governing such prop- 
erty. Early in the war, therefore, Govern- 
ment experts were placed in the high- 
245 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

powered long-distance wireless stations on 
the Atlantic seaboard, and these experts 
rigidly censored every message thrown out 
across the seas. It will be recalled that the 
cables running directly to Germany were cut 
early in the war, thus isolating Germany 
from America, except for the wireless links. 

The utmost ingenuity of Government ex- 
perts must be kept constantly on the alert to 
foil the efforts of the German wireless men. 
At scores of wireless stations throughout the 
country experts 'listened in," day and night, 
to detect these clandestine messages. It 
was possible to transmit to ships at sea from 
any point on the coast, or from miles inland, 
messages that might have disastrous re- 
sults. When a suspicious message was 
picked up, it was located as accurately as pos- 
sible, and agents were at once sent out to 
scour the country to find the station from 
which it was sent. 

It soon became necessary to regulate the 
thousands of amateur wireless stations scat- 
tered broadcast throughout the country. No 
other country is so well equipped as America 
with such stations. There are more than a 
246 



THE WIRELESS GUARD 

hundred thousand amateurs in the United 
States operating wireless stations of some 
sort. The greater part of these are, of 
course, merely receiving sets that do no 
harm; but there are many thousands capa- 
ble of sending messages for considerable 
distances. It became necessary, therefore, 
either to close the amateur sending stations 
or to forbid their operation except under 
rigid Government censorship. 

The most arduous work of the wireless 
censors, however, is found in watching the 
floating wireless stations. Every ship in- 
side an invisible boundary line three miles 
off shore comes under Government jurisdic- 
tion. When a vessel equipped with wireless 
comes into an American port, therefore, it 
comes under Government control. If there 
be any suspicion of its being used for pur- 
poses of the enemy, the apparatus is disman- 
tled. 

One of the most interesting cases of such 
censorship was aboard the captured German 
steamer Appam. Like other ships under 
suspicion, the Appam was carefully exam- 
ined. Her regular wireless apparatus was 
247 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

removed; but the investigation did not stop 
there. It was suspected that the steamer, 
while interned at Norfolk, Virginia, was 
clandestinely in communication with the 
German Government. For some time the 
most careful watch failed to fix the suspi- 
cion. 

The problem was finally solved through 
the ingenuity of J. A, McCarron, an electri- 
cal engineer of the first class, serving aboard 
the United States Coast Guard cutter Yama- 
craw. The evidence was placed in the hands 
of the authorities on March 13, 191 7. The 
Captain of the Appam had been for a long 
time regularly transmitting messages to the 
commanders of active raiders, and possibly 
submarines, transmitting orders from the 
German Government. These messages also 
contained information, often detailed, of the 
afifairs of the United States Government, 
which could thus be relayed to Germany. 

McCarron discovered aboard the Appam 
a complete secret wireless apparatus, con- 
structed and installed with great ingenuity. 
The aerial was strung aloft in such a way as 
to be invisible to the closest scrutiny from 
248 



THE WIRELESS GUARD 

the deck of any near-by ship. As an addi- 
tional precaution, however, the aerial was 
lowered by the Germans before daybreak 
every morning, and put in place after dark 
in the evening. All the wireless transmis- 
sion was carried on between the hours of 7 
p. M. and 7 A. M. The apparatus was pow- 
erful, making it possible either to receive or 
transmit messages for great distances. The 
German commander. Captain Berg, thus 
continued to send and receive messages of 
vital importance under the very guns of the 
American fleet. 

By connecting the aerial with his state- 
room, the German captain could "listen in" 
at any hour of the night without the incon- 
venience of rising from his bed. From the 
privacy of his state-room he could, so to 
speak, ring up Berlin, although surrounded 
by American warships. The work of the 
naval engineers who have foiled German in- 
genuity should be mentioned among the no- 
table achievements in the great struggle. 

The appearance of German U-boats in 
American waters has brought a new problem 
to the wireless men. The wireless operators 
249 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

on American ships on this side of the Atlan- 
tic often pick up mysterious messages, evi- 
dently in German code. It seemed impossi- 
ble that they should be sent out from Amer- 
ica, and no German boat now sails the seas 
capable of such long-distance transmission. 
The messages, as a matter of fact, are known 
to be sent out from Nauen, a small German 
town near Spandau, where the most power- 
ful of the German wireless stations is situ- 
ated. 

The Nauen station is a very elaborate one. 
The antenna is suspended from nine great 
towers rising to a height of 850 feet. It is 
reported from German sources that last year 
the German Government used the Nauen sta- 
tion very extensively, sending out some five 
million words. So great is the power of this 
sending apparatus that its invisible waves 
can be read for six thousand miles. The en- 
tire Atlantic coast of the United States is, 
therefore, well within range of this station. 

Although these German messages are sent 

out very frequently, no word of reply is ever 

heard. The explanation is very simple. 

The Nauen station is sending messages to its 

250 



THE WIRELESS GUARD 

great fleet of submarines in every sea, but 
the undersea craft do not reply. A subma- 
rine may be six thousand miles from Nauen, 
but it remains in constant communication 
with this base. The German headquarters, 
therefore, keeps an unbroken communication 
with the submarine fleet. 

Most of the submarines of other countries 
are equipped with wireless apparatus capa- 
ble of operating only throughout a radius of 
a few hundred miles. The antenna is raised 
on masts, a few feet above the deck, that are 
folded up and taken in when the craft sub- 
merges. The Germans employ a highly in- 
genious device, however, for receiving long- 
distance messages. Two balloons are in- 
flated and sent aloft to an altitude of about 
two thousand feet. From these is suspended 
the antenna, which at this height picks up the 
long-distance waves without trouble. When 
the message has been received, the balloons 
are drawn down, emptied of their gas, and 
housed for the next da3'''s use. 

By "listening in" day and night, it has 
been found that these long-distance messages 
are sent out at regular intervals. The com- 
253 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

mander of a submarine, of course, knows 
when to expect orders from its base in Ger- 
many, and is found ready waiting with his 
aerials aloft to receive the message. Much 
of the effectiveness of the U-boats has been 
foiled by the alertness and ingenuity of the 
naval wireless men. 

A careful search has been made by the au- 
thorities for enemy wireless stations along 
the New Jersey coast and throughout a zone 
many miles inland. It was thought that the 
success of the German submarine in sinking 
the Carolina and other ships off this coast 
was probably due to assistance of this kind. 
As a result of this search, a wireless sta- 
tion was discovered on a farm near English- 
town, some twenty miles inland. A tall flag- 
pole was employed to raise an "umbrella 
aerial" to a considerable height, from which 
wires had been run to a sending apparatus. 
The wireless outfit was capable of sending 
messages for several hundred miles off shore. 
The farm was surrounded by a pine forest, 
which served to conceal the antenna. 

The same system has been carried out in 
detail in European waters. A chart has 
254 



THE WIRELESS GUARD 

been discovered aboard a captured German 
submarine which reveals exactly how work 
was carried on. The waters about the Brit- 
ish Isles have been divided by the Germans 
into a series of squares, each of which is 
known by a number. The German system 
makes it possible to gain valuable informa- 
tion as to the name of boats sailing from 
Channel ports, their destination, and details 
of their cargoes. This information is sent 
out from the German wireless stations 
broadcast over the seas. The messages are, 
of course, in cipher; but every submarine 
commander has the key, and is thus informed 
of the position of Allied vessels with amaz- 
ing definiteness. The entire submarine fleet 
can thus receive daily, or if necessary hourly, 
bulletins. 



255 



XLI 
MODERN WEAPONS 

THE failure of the German submarines to 
work any material damage in American 
waters has become so obvious that an official 
explanation, or rather several of them, have 
been issued by the Kaiser's government. 
Germany has been very keenly disappointed 
over the failure of the submarine to stop 
American troop-ships. The confession of 
failure given out by the Chief of the German 
Admiralty Staff, Admiral von Holtzendorff, 
makes very interesting reading. He says, in 
part : 

The Americans have at their disposal for de- 
barkation the coastal region from the northern 
point of Scotland to the French Mediterranean 
ports, with dozens of debarkation places. Must we 
put our boats to lurk off these harbors on the chance 
of getting shot at by the strongly guarded convoys 
of fast American transports? The convoys do not 
come with the regularity and frequency of railway 
trains at a big railway station, but irregularly, with 
256 



MODERN WEAPONS 

long interruptions, and often by night and in fog. 
When one remembers all that, one realizes what 
little prospect of success it offers to set the U-boats 
especially at American transports. 

But the Admiral's explanation fails to ex- 
plain the immunity of the American troop- 
ships. Their safety is maintained by out- 
witting the Germans at every turn. The in- 
genuity of our most experienced naval of- 
ficers, the excellent seamanship of the entire 
personnel engaged, and a spirit of absolute 
fearlessness has made this possible. The 
defense of the home waters and the long sea 
lanes is a far more complicated matter than 
the German Admiral's explanation would in- 
dicate. The success of the American Navy 
in safely transporting a great army overseas 
will doubtless rank in history as one of the 
great victories of the war. 

A fleet under convoy is a much more com- 
plicated formation than the landsman imag- 
ines. It is said to have been brought to its 
highest efficiency in the American Navy. 
The fleet of perhaps thirty or more ships sail 
in a V-shaped formation, regularly spaced, 
and held under the most rigid rules to avoid 
257 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

collision. The group is protected by destroy- 
ers, which maintain a constant guard on all 
sides by sailing in a series of zigzags. Sev- 
eral hydroplanes may be carried to maintain 
an air patrol throughout a wide radius. 

Such a fleet carries a variety of weapons, 
and men with courage and skill to use them. 
It is not generally realized, for instance, that 
a depth bomb carries the same elements of 
destruction as a modern torpedo, and is far 
more dangerous to handle. One of these 
bombs contains from 250 to 300 pounds of 
T.N.T., and four cubic feet of this explosive 
produces 40,000 cubic feet of gas. Now, 
this gas, when released, naturally follows the 
line of least resistance, and will blow in the 
side of the ship nearest it impartially, 
whether it be friend or foe. The charge 
must be dropped by a fearless and skillful 
hand. It is especially effective when con- 
trived to explode at a considerable depth. 
The sailor must risk his life on the accuracy 
of abstruse calculations. 

Only by long training, again, do our men 
become expert in managing the smoke- 
screens that have been brought to such per- 
258 



MODERN WEAPONS 

fection in the present war. When a ship is 
concealed behind a well placed smoke-screen, 
its chance of being hit is reduced about sev- 
enty-jEive per cent. There are two kinds of 
smoke-screens — the fixed and the movable 
curtains. The modern sea-fighter must be 
an expert chemist to handle these dangerous 
elements. The apparatus used for produc- 
ing the smoke curtains consists of a metal 
container and two cylinders, each holding a 
different gas. By opening the valves the gas 
is allowed to escape under pressure, and by 
mixing the two chemicals the curtain is 
quickly developed. The gas is allowed to es- 
cape for twenty minutes, as a rule, and is 
controlled at any time by closing the valve. 

The movable gas bombs are dropped at in- 
tervals to spread a fog-like curtain over the 
water, and allow a ship to escape the enemy, 
or at least dodge its fire. These bombs go 
off in from six to eleven seconds, and in so 
short a period of time develop a dense smoke- 
screen. The screen may consist of a yellow, 
white, or black cloud, as the occasion de- 
mands, which completely engulfs the ship. 
The smoke tends to fall, and the officer who 
259 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

directs it must calculate the force of the wind 
to a nicety, in order to get the greatest pos- 
sible protection. 

Entirely new to this war is the art of cam- 
ouflage. The first idea, in this deceptive dec- 
oration, is to render the ship as much as pos- 
sible a part of its background of sea and sky. 
The ship should appear as shapeless as possi- 
ble, the familiar form of the vessel being 
scientifically destroyed. Large masses of 
color are employed to give an effect of shad- 
ows at a distance, which do not, of course, 
exist. A false bow and stern are simulated, 
which makes it difficult to tell which way the 
ship is headed. A great vessel may be 
broken in two by ingenious camouflage, or 
made to appear a hopeless derelict. One of 
the most successful decorative schemes is to 
give a ship the appearance of having been 
wrecked by shell fire, so that the enemy de- 
cides it is not worth its while to pursue so 
disreputable a wreck. It is not important 
that the vessel should appear to have a low 
visibility. The proof of the success of the 
art is shown by the fact that the insurance 
260 



MODERN WEAPONS 

companions accept lower rates if a ship be 
disfigured in this way. 

The vessels, again, are equipped with deli- 
cate microphones that detect the presence of 
a submarine at surprising distances. The 
sound made by the propellers of a U-boat is, 
of course, quickly muffled by the water; but 
the delicate microphone picks up the slight- 
est disturbance, magnifies it, and brings it to 
the ears of the lookout. There are many 
more highly ingenious devices aboard the 
American boats whose secrets are carefully 
guarded. The most fearless crew would be 
powerless against the enemy without elab- 
orate training and preparation. 

American gunners have long enjoyed a 
reputation for accuracy. The new subma- 
rine warfare has raised difficulties unknown 
to the gunners of the past. The periscope 
of a U-boat is very elusive; it rises and dis- 
appears so quickly that the most expert 
marksman often finds himself completely 
baffled. An entirely new system of training 
must be devised to meet the new problem. 
Despite the difficulties of the new game, 
261 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

American gunners have made a reputation 
for accuracy in hitting the new target. 

The success of our gunners is the result of 
careful preparation. The difficulties of the 
new game are, of course, obvious. The gun- 
ner sees his target only for a moment across 
an expanse of shifting seas. No ordinary 
gun practice would train a man to bag such 
prey. To meet the problem, an extremely 
ingenious range, as it may be called, has been 
devised. A long table is painted to resemble 
the sea, while a submarine or the periscope 
of a submarine is carefully prepared to scale. 

The gunner sights his target by looking 
through a slit in a card at one end of the 
board. He is allowed only a fleeting glimpse 
as a sheet of tin is slipped back and forth be- 
fore his eyes, much as the shutter of a lense 
is used to take a photograph. In the frac- 
tion of a second he is allowed to look at the 
target, the gunner must make his calculation 
and instantly call out the aim he would give 
his gun. 

The spot at which he has theoretically 
aimed his gun is marked on the board by 
placing over it a tuft of cotton to represent 
262 



MODERN WEAPONS 

the spout of water made by a falling shot. 
At the next glimpse the gunner sees the cot- 
ton marking his last efifort with the dummy 
submarine, and corrects his aim. The toy 
U-boat makes a very elusive target when 
seen for only a flash, but it is by such train- 
ing that the gun crews of the American Navy 
are prepared for their difficult work at sea. 

A hundred new problems must be faced in 
driving the submarines from the seas. Each 
must be carefully analyzed and a new method 
devised for meeting it. Working with ex- 
cellent material, the Navy has thus been able 
to turn out in record time a highly specialized 
personnel. 

Great loss of life has been avoided by boat 
drills. In many accidents at sea an appal- 
ling loss of life has resulted from the clum- 
siness of passengers and crews in taking to 
the boats. This is now a thing of the past. 
From the first day out, all the passengers on 
board are required to go regularly through 
a boat drill to prepare them for accident. 
Each person learns the position of the life- 
preservers, and how to put them on with the 
least delay. When an accident befalls, 
263 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

there is no confusion. Each one knows his 
place in the boats, and has been trained to 
take it without excitement or protest. It is 
largely due to such drills that the loss of life 
on torpedoed ships has steadily decreased 
with the progress of the war. 

Aboard the submarine-chasers the drills 
are even more rigid. The crews of these 
craft literally live in their life-preservers. 
A special form of life-belt, or rather life- 
jacket, has been designed for them. It 
completely envelops them, while a high roll- 
ing collar protects the neck. The men eat 
and sleep in these jackets, so that when an 
accident befalls no time will be lost. A sin- 
gle shot from a great gun, or the explosion 
of a torpedo or a depth charge, may throw 
these men into the water without the slight- 
est warning. All this preparation is made 
to save a few seconds of priceless time. 



264 



XLII 
MANNING THE FLEETS 

THE record of America's naval forces 
abroad has been made possible by a 
remarkable feat of organization at home. 
The beginning of the war found America's 
naval forces much reduced. In the spring 
of 1 91 7 there were only about seventy thou- 
sand men enrolled in the Navy, and some 
thirteen thousand in the Marine Corps. 
Such was our first line of defense at the 
close of the third year of the world war. 

To-day there are more than half a million 
fighting men enrolled in these branches of 
the service, and men are being mustered in 
at the rate of two thousand a day. Chosen 
from every rank of life, these great forces 
are being constantly fed into the great train- 
ing camps for the Navy. The complicated 
science of seamanship must be taught from 
the beginning. A few months later these 
same lads take up perhaps the most difficult 
problems ever faced by American sailors. 
265 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

An unprecedented problem confronted the 
United States Navy. The inroads of the 
submarine in the early months of the war 
were terrifying. New methods of attack 
and defense must be involved, and men must 
be trained to put them into practice. The 
Navy was suddenly called upon to man hun- 
dreds of ships. The acquisition of the Ger- 
man merchant-ships alone required the serv- 
ices of thousands of skilled officers and men. 
The Vaterland, rechristened the Leviathan, 
required nearly fifteen hundred men. 

No figures may be printed as to the force 
of naval men now aboard the merchant 
fleets, but the total is amazing. Men must 
be trained on deck and in the engine-rooms 
besides the gun crews. The problem of the 
submarine defense is very complicated, and 
only by tireless efficiency can the tables be 
turned against the undersea craft. Every 
man placed aboard the merchant fleets in 
these war times must be dependable. 

The men recruited in such force are first 

given technical instruction. Later they 

must serve in the engine-room and on the 

bridge, to gain actual experience before the 

266 



MANNING THE FLEETS 

great fleets are intrusted to them. For 
many weary months they are required to 
"'split watches" with men already qualified 
for the work. A few weeks more, and these 
same lads, newly recruited from the schools 
and officers, are intrusted with the safety of 
great ships carrying troops or stores to the 
war zone. 

As quickly as ships are built, the men 
stand ready to man them. Our feat in turn- 
ing out ships of every class has no parallel 
in history. There are at the present writing 
some twelve hundred in process of construc- 
tion. The feat of training men to man 
them is even more remarkable. Secretary 
Daniels has recently announced that in the 
fall of 191 8 one hundred thousand addi- 
tional men will be needed for the new fleet. 

It will be recalled that Germany openly 
sneered at the idea that a great navy could 
be built up in America in a few months or 
even years. Their naval experts laughed 
at the theory that men quickly trained could 
cope with the complicated problems of mod- 
ern warfare. And there were many doubt- 
ful minds even in America. The gunners 
267 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

on the great merchant fleets must fight under 
new and difficult conditions. The crews of 
the submarine-chasers of every kind must be 
highly skilled, and hardened to experiences 
that it is generally supposed come only with 
long practice. 

The speed with which the American Navy 
responded, once war was declared, came as 
a gratifying surprise on both sides of the At- 
lantic. As early as May i6, 1917, it was 
officially announced that a flotilla of United 
States destroyers had arrived safely in Brit- 
ish waters. As a matter of fact, they had 
reached the other side rather earlier, but it 
had been planned to give the officers and 
crews some time to rest before entering 
active service. When the American officers 
reported to the British authorities for duty, 
they were asked how long it would take them 
to get ready for service. The trip over in 
the frail destroyers had been very rough, 
and the men were naturally fatigued. The 
officers' answer, which deserves to be remem- 
bered with many other famous phrases of 
the American Navy, was : 

"We are ready now." 
268 



"^^"r~'n~m"'Wx-^-w 




MANNING THE FLEETS 

While it was understood on this side of 
the Atlantic that the destroyers began their 
work May i6, they had made their presence 
felt as early as May 4. By the middle of 
May it was officially announced by the Brit- 
ish Admiralty that the Americans were giv- 
ing an excellent account of themselves. It 
is now permitted to state that the American 
fleet sailed late in April, and that its first port 
of call was Queenstown, Ireland, where it 
received an enthusiastic reception. 

The official recognition of its entrance 
into the war is contained in the following 
message from Vice-Admiral Sir David Be- 
atty. Commander of the British Grand Fleet, 
to Admiral Henry T. Mayo, Commander of 
the United States Atlantic Fleet. It reads: 

"The Grand Fleet rejoices that the Atlan- 
tic Fleet appreciates the messages from the 
British Fleet and welcomes the opportunity 
for work with the British Fleet for the free- 
dom of the seas." 

At the present writing — August i, 191 8 — ■ 
there are known to be two hundred and fifty 
American warships having permanent bases 
in European waters. 

271 



PART V 
WITH THE MARINES 



XLIII 
WITH THE MARINES 

ANY one reading the list of those men- 
tioned for "conspicuous bravery" in 
the Navy will be impressed by the surprising 
variety of the services performed. Among 
hundreds of such awards, no two acts are 
alike. The most imaginative teller of sea 
tales could scarcely conceive such endless 
variety and contrast of incident. 

The part that the American Navy is play- 
ing in the Great War naturally overshadows, 
for the time, its other activities. However, 
far from the theaters of war, the American 
seaman still finds opportunities to distin- 
guish himself. Even in the routine of daily 
duties there is the element of surprise, and 
opportunity need knock but once. 

Two American boys attached to the Ma- 
rine Corps, a service not unknown to fame, 
chanced recently to be on shore leave in the 
275 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

Dominican Republic when an incipient revo- 
lution developed. Like many of these polit- 
ical outbreaks, it fell with the suddenness of 
a tropical thunder-storm. No political revo- 
lution followed, and the outbreak w^as later 
described in the official reports of the Navy 
as a ''native brawl''; but for a time it raged 
with fierceness only possible in political dis- 
cussions in those latitudes. 

The American Marine Corporal William 
Henigsmith and Private C. E. Millard at 
the time were quietly enjoying their shore 
leave. It was Sunday. The streets were 
crowded with a holiday crowd, and political 
upheavals would scarcely be anticipated. 
The Americans were objects of more or less 
curiosity, but the crowd appeared friendly 
and the merchants accepted their money for 
various purchases with the utmost willing- 
ness. No one could have imagined that 
these pleasure-seekers could be transformed 
in a moment into a dangerous mob threat- 
ening the lives of the Americans. 

The marines' attention was attracted by 
shouting in a side street, and on turning the 
corner they found a crowd of natives in vio- 
276 



WITH THE MARINES 

lent altercation. The group quickly divided, 
and in a moment were savagely attacking 
two men. There could be no doubt about 
their murderous intention. Before the ma- 
rines could reach the spot, both men had been 
wounded, one fatally and the other seriously. 

The marines went to the assistance of the 
wounded men. They had no interest in 
local political questions; they were prepared 
to render first aid. 

But the situation was perilous. The odds 
against the Americans, on a conservative 
basis, were several thousand to one. The 
crowd violently resented any interference in 
their political affairs, and for the two men 
to go into that seething mass of excited peo- 
ple was a highly dangerous undertaking. In 
commending them later for their act, the 
naval authorities especially praised the men 
for their cool thinking and quick decision. 

Henigsmith and Millard consulted for a 
moment, and then hurried forward, pushing 
their way through the crowd to the injured 
men. The crowd shouted insults and abuse 
at very close quarters. Arms and even 
knives were brandished in their faces. But 
277 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

the marines quite calmly kneeled beside the 
men and administered first aid. One of the 
men was saved, but the other was past help. 

When the men had been bandaged as well 
as the situation allowed, the marines at- 
tempted to take them to the hospital. The 
crowd violently resented such interference. 
Lifting the wounded men to their feet, the 
Americans began to force their way through 
the crowd. Had they shown any trace of 
fear or attempted to retreat, they would 
doubtless have been murdered. But their 
coolness seemed to awe the crowd and they 
advanced slowly. 

Carrying their double burden, the men 
finally reached the hospital in safety. But 
the crowd was not appeased, and, gathering 
about the building, continued to threaten the 
Americans. The local government seemed 
powerless to protect the hospital or to dis- 
perse the crowd. The news of the affair 
quickly spread and the crowd grew to large 
proportions. The marines had finished 
their work in administering first aid and 
carrying the wounded to the hospital, and 
their responsibility seemed at an end. But, 
278 



WITH THE MARINES 

since the hospital itself seemed in danger of 
attack, they mounted guard before it to pro- 
tect the wounded, and remained at this peril- 
ous post for ten hours before it was consid- 
ered safe to leave. The men have been offi- 
cially commended by Major-General George 
Barnett of the Marine Corps. 



279 



XLIV 
"FIRST TO FIGHT" 

MEASURED by European standards, 
our Marines, on reaching France, 
were still green troops. They had little or 
no "trench training," and were compara- 
tively new to the complicated game of war- 
fare on the western front. Under the 
pressure of necessity, they were thrown 
into the thick of the fight and confronted by 
"crack" German troops. Among the dead 
afterward identified before them were found 
members of the famous Prussian Guards 
and Death Heads, indicating that their an- 
tagonists were the most formidable that 
could be mustered aganist them. 

The Marines engaged in this sector com- 
prised two detachments of infantry with the 
customary auxiliary service. It is believed 
that the detachment had a larger proportion 
of regular army officers than is common to 
most American forces; but the men were, 
280 



"FIRST TO FIGHT" 

after all, of about the general average of 
our enlisted personnel. 

The order to advance was received at five 
o'clock in the afternoon of May 30, 1918. 
An immense amount of labor is involved in 
rapidly executing such an order. The men 
were widely scattered throughout more than 
fifty villages in this region. It is a matter of 
record that the first of the men were col- 
lected, equipped, and entrained for the front 
in a few minutes, and at the end of twelve 
and a half hours the last of the forces, with 
their horses, food, and ammunition, were on 
their way. 

By midnight some of the emergency 
American troops were already in position, 
and by nine o'clock the following morning 
the entire force had been thrown across the 
famous Chateau Thierry road. The men 
carried two days' rations and supplies. 
Ammunition dumps were established, tem- 
porary intrenchments constructed, and the 
artillery was brought up to support the in- 
fantry. 

During the night of June i a gap two and 
half miles in extent was reported, through 
281 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

which German advance seemed imminent. 
The French corps commander ordered the 
American Marines to ''fill this gap if you 
can." The men who were rushed forward 
comprised one infantry unit, a machine-gun 
unit, and a detachment of Marines. The 
men had been wakened from their sleep and 
hurried along dark roads, and had taken up 
their position on some open hills. By nine 
o'clock the following morning they were in 
readiness; and against the most determined 
attacks of the German troops the line held 
firm. 

Several days of severe fighting followed. 
The Marine units repelled two severe attacks 
on June 4. The marching forces now began 
to arrive, and the entire unit was soon in 
place with the artillery supporting it. Sev- 
eral attacks were repiilsed on June 5. On 
the following night an especially determined 
effort by the enemy failed to yield an inch. 
Later a part of a Marine unit counter- 
attacked and drove the Germans as far as 
Bussaires. The entire force now attacked 
in the direction of Torc}^, driving the enemy 
back, inflicting heavy losses, and taking 
many prisoners. 

282 



"FIRST TO FIGHT" 

It was not originally intended to take 
Torcy, which was not one of the objectives; 
but, once started, the Marines were not read- 
ily checked. They had already taken Hill 
^33} which commanded the place, and after 
making the German position untenable they 
swept the town. 

In recognition of its splendid work, the 
brigade was cited by the French army, and 
the regimental colors received the Croix de 
Guerre and the palm, the highest honor won 
by any regiment up to that time. The 
American Colonel who was wounded early 
in the fighting was made a Chevalier of the 
Legion of Honor. Throughout the fighting 
and afterward the spirit of the Marines was 
above praise. Some days later, when the 
wounded had been transferred to a Paris 
hospital, a Marine insisted on sitting up in 
bed and singing the old battle hymn of the 
Marines, 'The Halls of Montezuma." A 
great chorus instantly joined in, the wounded 
and the gassed men singing with a spirit 
that rather shocked the dignity of the great 
hospital. 

More than a hundred of the Marines en- 
283 



NAVAL HEROES OF TO-DAY 

gaged in these actions have been awarded 
distinguished service medals for conspicuous 
bravery. When the medals were formally 
presented, but thirty-seven marines appeared 
in the line, the rest having died on the field 
or were in the hospital. 

The presentation took place on the lawn 
of a beautiful old chateau on the banks of the 
Marne. The American General who pinned 
the medals on the uniforms of these men 
found some very happy phrases to describe 
the work of the Marines. 

'Tt is with inexpressible pride and satis- 
faction," he said, ''that your commander re- 
counts your glorious deeds on the field of 
battle. In the early days of June, on a front 
of twenty kilometers, after night marches 
and with only the reserve rations which you 
carried, you stood like a wall against the 
enemy advance on Paris. For this timely 
action you have received the thanks of the 
French people whose homes you saved, and 
the generous praise of your comrades in 
arms. 

''Since the organization of our sector, in 
the face of strong opposition you have ad- 
284 



'TIRST TO FIGHT" 

vanced your lines two kilometers on a front 
of eight kilometers. You have engaged, 
and defeated with great loss, three German 
divisions, and have occupied important 
strong points — Belleau Wood, Bouresches, 
and Vaux. You have taken about fourteen 
hundred prisoners, many machine-guns, and 
much other material. The complete success 
of the infantry was made possible by the 
splendid cooperation of the artillery, by the 
aid and assistance of the engineer and signal 
troops, by the diligent and watchful care of 
the medical and supply services, and by the 
unceasing work of the well organized staff. 
All elements of the division have worked to- 
gether as a well trained machine. 

''Amid the dangers and trials of battle, 
every officer and every man has done well his 
part. Let the stirring deeds, hardships, and 
sacrifices of the past month remain forever 
a bright spot in our history. Let the sacred 
memory of our fallen comrades spur us on to 
renewed effort, and to the glory of American 
arms." 

THE END 



285 



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